President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at the Ukraine 30. Ecology forum signed a bill on limiting the circulation of plastic bags on the territory of Ukraine, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted on June 1, into law.
“Five hundred. This is how many packages every Ukrainian uses a year. Twenty minutes. This is how much we use this package on average. More than 100 years. This is how long one package decomposes and a few seconds – to sign a law,” the president said, according to the press service of the head of state.
The document regulates the circulation of plastic bags and should stimulate the development of the production of biodegradable bags.
In particular, the law prohibits the free distribution of plastic bags (except for biodegradable) in retail and catering. Plastic bags should be provided for money only. At the same time, retail prices for such packages cannot be lower than the minimum prices set by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
In addition, mandatory labeling of biodegradable bags is envisaged and fines are set for violating these norms.
The document comes into force on the next day after its publication and will be effective six months from the date of entry into force, with the exception of some of its provisions.
A group of nine lawmakers from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction has proposed to ban the sale of plastic bags of up to 50 mm thick and oxo-degradable (oxo-biodegradable) plastic bags in the territory of Ukraine from January 1, 2022. Bill No. 2051-1 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on September 18 and published on Wednesday.
“Biodegradable bags are the main alternative to plastic bags in the world. However, insufficient legislative regulation in Ukraine has led to a conflict when consumers are confused, believing that the bag they buy does not harm the environment,” the lawmakers said in the explanatory note to the document.
The authors said that the degradation of the oxo-biodegradable packages creates a million of microscopic plastic particles that do not disappear anywhere.
According to the document, the ban does not apply to ultralight bags (up to 15 microns thick) up to 225 mm wide (without side folds), up to 345 mm deep (with side folds) and up to 450 mm long (with handles), used as primary packaging for fresh fish, meat and products made of them, bulk products and ice. It also will not apply to biodegradable packages, however, the bill provides for their mandatory labeling in accordance with the National Standard DSTU EN 14995: 2018, DSTU EN 13432: 2015.
The bill provides that non-compliant packages that remain by January 1, 2022 must be disposed of at the expense of the business entity that purchased them.
In addition, it is proposed to prohibit employees of retail and restaurant businesses from somehow inciting consumers to purchase plastic bags.
The bill provides for the introduction of fines for the sale of plastic bags or oxo-degradable packages under the guise of bio-packages, as well as for the incentive to purchase them. The fines will be the amount of 100 to 200 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens (now UAH 17), for repeated violation – from 200 up to 500 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens.
The authors in the explanatory note said that Ukraine has the required capacities for the production of bio-packages, but there is no demand for them yet.
“The ban on the distribution of conventional plastic bags, in addition to the extremely positive impact on the environment, will stimulate demand for the production of biodegradable bags, making them cheaper for the end consumer,” the lawmakers said.
A group of lawmakers from the Verkhovna Rada have registered bill No. 9507 proposing that sale of plastic bags in stores and other retail outlets is banned. According to the explanatory note to the bill, it is proposed to prohibit the implementation of ultra-light and light plastic bags. Exceptions are biodegradable bags and ultralight bags for meat, fish, and bulk solids. In addition, the bill provides for mandatory labeling of plastic bags.
The bill aims at reducing the amount of safe waste from polyethylene.
According to the information on the website of the parliament, 60 MPs were the initiators of the bill, including Boryslav Bereza (member of no faction), Serhiy Kiral (Samopomich), Olena Sotnik (Samopomich), Mustafa Nayyem (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Oleksiy Mushak (Petro Poroshenko Bloc) and others.
