France has postponed a ban on throwaway plastic cups by four years, pushing the start date to 2030 after the government said alternatives were not ready for widespread use.
The ban had been due to take effect on 1 January. But a decree published in the Official Journal on Tuesday said a review carried out this year raised concerns about the “technical feasibility of eliminating plastic from cups”, prompting the delay.
The ministries for ecological transition and for the economy said a new review will be carried out in 2028 to assess “progress made in replacing single-use plastic cups”.
When the ban comes into force on 1 January, 2030, companies will have 12 months to sell off existing stock.
The decree added that, depending on the outcome of the 2028 review, cups still allowed after 2030 would be those that “do not contain plastic, or only traces”. It said the deadline could still be revised based on those findings.
France has gradually introduced bans on single-use plastic products over the past decade, as environmental groups issue warnings over pollution in rivers and oceans.
A law passed in 2020 set a target of eliminating all single-use plastics by 2040.
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Environmental backlash
The postponement drew criticism from environmental organisations, which accused the government of retreating under pressure.
“This is yet another step backwards in the fight against plastic pollution, under pressure from lobbies,” said Manon Richert, spokesperson for Zero Waste France.
She told French news agency AFP the government’s argument was weak because “solutions like reuse and refill already exist” and “must be rolled out through investment and an appropriate regulatory framework”.
French rules already limit the amount of plastic in disposable cups. Since 2024, the maximum content allowed has been set at 8 percent, down from 15 percent until 2022.
Many cups sold as cardboard rely on a thin plastic film to make them rigid and waterproof. Despite progress, the technology for plastic-free cups “remains generally insufficient” for large-scale use, the Ministry for Ecological Transition said.
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Rules often ignored
The government’s DGCCRF consumer protection agency said in a report released in 2024 that almost one in five of around 100 companies checked in 2023 were breaching rules on single-use plastic items.
Investigators said some firms marketed products as plastic-free even though they still contained plastic, while others changed product names to get around existing bans.
In early December, France Nature Environnement and the NGO Surfrider formally demanded that several retailers, including Amazon, Métro and La Foir’Fouille, withdraw banned plastic products from sale. Some retailers have since removed the items.
Across all uses, each person in France consumes an average of nearly 70 kilogrammes of plastic per year.
