From the 1st of September 2017, Brussels’ retailers will no longer offer you disposable plastic bags. That’s because producing these plastic bags consumes a whole lot of non-renewable resources and energy for their transport. And, in most cases, these bags are only used for a few minutes at most, before being discarded.
Which bags and shops are concerned?
All disposable plastic bags less than 50 microns thick, intended to carry shop-bought goods*. The ban applies to all the capital's retailers: grocery stores, night shops, general foodstores, supermarkets, market stalls, take-away meals, butcher shops, fishmongers, etc.
Why this ban?
This ban (resulting from a European Directive) will help cut your waste and better protect your environment. In addition to the natural resources and energy needed to produce these flimsy bags, they often end up in the bin and then in incinerators, polluting the air we breathe. Or in the city’s streets, in our fields and forests and in the oceans. Worse still: in the stomachs of marine animals and in our plates...
But how are you going to cope???
There are more practical and more environmentally friendly solutions out there for everybody, retailers and customers alike, such as reusable bags! They will last much longer than the thin plastic bags and are much more environmentally friendly, provided they are reused as much as possible and properly recycled at the end of their life ...
Who wants to continue killing baby seals?
All of you probably have a stock of reusable bags at home ... But do you actually reuse them? Because at the end of the day, it makes no sense to buy a reusable bag each time, it's expensive, and without a doubt also kills hundreds of baby seals! (or other fish that may be less cute but that are equally important, right?)
A reusable bag always at hand!
So all you have to do is always carry a reusable bag on you! Don’t leave the house without one! Leave one in the car, in your backpack, handbag, in your school bag, attached to your bike ... Give some thought to the different types of bags: transporting bottles isn’t quite the same as bringing home some lettuce ... You can even post a memo on the front door: got your bag?
Which bag are you?
Are you more of a cardboard, nylon, hessian or cotton person? Or you may have your sights on the latest fashionable tote bag? Better yet: recycle your old clothes or old fabrics into trendy bags? From now on, feel free to come up with your own ideas for alternative containers to take away your purchases! Find the one that suits you, that matches your style, be proud to carry it and do the right thing every day.
One second to make a plastic bag. 20 minutes of use. Centuries of pollution.
Let’s reverse the trend and do the right thing! What about you, got your bag?
*In September 2017, disposable checkout bags will be banned. By 2018, all plastic bags will be banned. Get ready right now!
More info on the banning of plastic bags (FR/NL)
