In the epochal battle against plastic, Italy is on the front line. What went wrong with a positive piece of news such as the ban on plastic bags in supermarkets? The editorial by Stefano Ciafani, director general of Legambiente.
The end of 2017 was engulfed by a baffling media dispute over the cost to consumers of biodegradable and compostable bags used to hold loose foods at the supermarket. An affair that, were it not worrying for the degree of misinformation and "mass distraction" it reached in just a few days, could be filed away as a moment of collective madness.
It all began when the government announced the entry into force of the law that from the first of January introduced the obligation for large retailers to sell fruit and vegetables, as well as meat, fish and other fresh foods, only in single-use biodegradable and compostable bags at a visible cost of around 2–3 euro cents to the customer. A positive piece of news that paradoxically and immediately turned into yet another indigestible levy at citizens' expense. All hell broke loose: for days the media and social networks talked about almost nothing else. It was said to be yet another hidden and unjust tax, and some claimed it was a measure tailor-made to benefit the interests of a particular company.
The government should have put an immediate stop to this controversy by clarifying and communicating clearly the reasons behind a measure that bans conventional plastic, and by introducing certain amendments to the provision — first and foremost the option of using reusable mesh bags as an alternative to compostable ones. In short, nothing different from what was done until a few decades ago, before plastic bags flooded the market, or what is done today in many northern European countries. Instead, if anything, the government fanned the flames of the debate with statements that were, to say the least, surreal.
According to the Ministry of Health, reusable bags — whether fabric or mesh — would not be suitable due to the risk of "bacterial contamination." In other words, the fresh food sections of Italian supermarkets, uniquely in the world, would harbour worrying infectious hotspots capable of triggering a health and hygiene emergency fuelled by the reuse of bags.
A truly curious view, since we have never before looked at fruit and vegetable counters as sterile operating theatres, nor have we ever thought that the white-coated staff arranging crates and shelves were in fact surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses. We have always seen traces of soil and unfamiliar bare hands feeling the fruit in search of the best piece.
Sarcasm aside, now that attention on the subject has died down it is time to get our ideas straight and to legalise, by law, mesh bags or other types of reusable carriers for storing food. Those who want a disposable compostable bag will pay the fair and transparent charge, as is already the case with the bags sold at the checkout without ever having caused such a fuss. Those who instead wish to carry their food in their own bag or mesh, must be able to do so without owing anything.
I am convinced that we will soon forget these controversies and that we will know how to make, as citizens, an ever greater contribution to combating pollution and caring for the environment. After all, we are the country that has made the most significant strides in banning plastics. The law prohibiting their sale from 2012 onwards brought about a 55 per cent reduction in shopping bags in just five years. A result that could be even greater if there were more controls and penalties on the sale of illegal ones.
The fight against plastic, and the disastrous harm it causes to the environment — the marine environment in particular — if not properly managed, is an epochal battle and has only just begun, yet it has already delivered its first encouraging results and promises to become a cause on which governments and citizens' sensibilities stand on the same side. We are talking about consumption that, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), amounts to around 100,000 bags a year in Europe alone, a portion of which ends up in the sea and along coastlines. Today other countries are equipping themselves to combat the spread of plastic: the latest to make headlines was Great Britain, where the government of Theresa May announced measures to discourage single-use packaging, plates and cups, bags and other polluting containers through targeted taxes. The European Commission announced that it is working to introduce a community tax on plastic within the coming months and, in the meantime, has launched a new strategy to reduce the use of this material.
Many small pieces that we hope will trigger a virtuous cycle of positive examples, because the battle against plastic pollution is one that can only be won if all countries play their part. And our country, for once, is leading the way, thanks to the recently enacted laws on bags, cotton buds and microplastics in cosmetic products.
