Legislation banning non-biodegradable plastic bags took effect in Italy at the beginning of 2011. Implementation of the controversial ban touted by environmentalists, opposed by the plastics industry and feared by retailers, initially was scheduled for 2010 – see Plasteurope.com of 03.07.2007 – but had faced delays. The law stipulates that retailers may no longer give away or sell the traditional PE bags, usually priced at 5 euro cents; however, some outlets will be allowed deplete stocks as long as they do not charge customers. In a statement, environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo called the ban “a key step forward in the fight against pollution.”

In the run-up to the ban, Italy’s retailers have been phasing out PE bags and phasing in the biodegradable variety, which some shop-owners criticise as not being as strong enough – some say they feared the new bags might dissolve in the rain. Going forward, retailers may offer shoppers cloth or biodegradable bags. The latter, which previously had been available in shops alongside the PE product, are priced at 10 cents each. Novamont (Novara / Italy; www.novamont.com) is the leading Italian producer of the bags made from its “Mater Bi” polymer.

The country’s rubber and plastics federation, Federazione Gomma Plastica (Milan; www.federazionegommaplastica.it), estimates the cost of retooling machinery to make the biodegradable bags at EUR 30,000-50,000. At the same time, the decentralised Italian environmental organisation Legambiente (www.legambiente.it) calculates that the phase-out of petrochemical-based bags will save 180,000 t of CO2 emissions annually.

Reports say it is unclear how strictly the ban will be enforced. Until only a few days before Christmas, it was unclear whether the legislation would actually take effect from 1 January, and that many, in particular small shopowners claimed they had not been informed. Plastic bags apparently were banned by municipal authorities in Naples in 1893, but this did not halt their use.