EU levy "plastic tax"
France's "echo" reported that in 2021, France's "bill" for recycling plastic packaging was very considerable. According to the data in the public administration accounts recently released by the French National Institute of statistics and Economics (INSEE), France paid 1.2 billion euros of "plastic tax" to the European Union (EU) last year.
"Plastic tax", also known as "plastic packaging tax", was launched in January 2021 and is part of the new revenue of the EU budget. Novel coronavirus pneumonia is a new source of revenue designed for Brussels to cope with the impact of the new crown pneumonia outbreak and provide funding for its recovery plan.
As early as 2018, the EU decided to levy a tax on disposable plastic packaging. Statistics show that the EU produces about 26 million tons of plastic waste every year, of which less than 30% are recycled. Most of the others are burned or dumped into landfills. More waste flows into rivers and oceans, causing serious pollution to the environment.
In July 2020, the EU special summit approved the EU fiscal budget from 2021 to 2027 and announced the "plastic packaging tax" from January 1, 2021. The tax paid by Member States is calculated based on the amount of non recyclable plastic packaging waste generated in the country within 12 months, and the basic tax rate is 800 euros per ton.
Previously, according to media estimates, according to the current tax rate, the EU can add 4 billion to 8 billion euros of tax revenue each year. France has accumulated about 1.5 million tons of household plastic waste and non household plastic waste in 2021.
The recovery rate of plastics in France is only 28%
Reported that in Europe, France's performance in plastic waste recycling is mediocre. According to citeo, an ecological organization responsible for recycling, less than a quarter (28%) of plastic packaging in France is recycled, compared with half in Germany and Spain. Therefore, France is currently one of the largest contributors to the tax in Europe as a whole.
This situation will continue for some time, but it will gradually improve. With the implementation of several new measures of France's anti pollution and circular economy law from 2022, the cost of "plastic tax" that France should pay will be slightly reduced from 2023 - according to the data of the Ministry of budget, it is 1.1 billion euros.
The French government also made it clear that the "plastic packaging tax" may become a booster for France to accelerate plastic recycling. The macron government has promised to increase the recycling rate of plastic waste to 100% by 2025, and strive to become a leading country in the recycling of household generated plastic packaging by the end of this century.
In 2021, the Elysee Palace announced the "France 2030" investment plan, of which € 300 million was used to obtain plastics, metals, rare earths and other materials and develop recycling technologies for these materials. Nicolas Garnier, director general of amorce, a non-profit organization in waste disposal, welcomed this: "this investment is a very strong financial signal that the country will eventually have a way to catch up in plastic packaging recycling." "The state should first issue fines to manufacturers and organizations that are still producing non recyclable plastics," he said
