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France has become the first country to ban all plastic cups, plates and cutlery in a law that will take full effect in 2020.

The measure was passed last month, but businesses have until 2020 to fully comply, according to the Associated Press.

All disposable dishes in France will instead have to be made from biologically sourced materials and the products must be able to be composted.

BioPak founder and director Richard Fine told PKN Packaging News the news was "fantastic".

"The rest of the world should start adopting the same measures," he said.

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"There's no reason we have to use plastic single-use items.

"Their environmental cost is mounting up and now that we have more bioplastics players coming on board consumers can make choices that will not pollute the environment."

Biopak offsets all the carbon emissions associated with the production, transport and disposal of its sustainable, plant-based packaging.

France banned plastic bags in July, a move other countries have also made, but France is the first to extend these types of bans to plastic cutlery and dishes.

France has been a leader on climate change and hosted the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015.

The country's newest ban has attracted criticism from packaging industry lobbyists, who say that the ban violates European Union rules on the free movement of goods, the AP says.

Food & Drink Business

Australia’s first social enterprise bakery, The Bread & Butter Project, has graduated its latest group of bakers, with its largest ever cohort marking the program’s 100th graduate.

The University of Sydney and Peking University have launched a Joint Centre for Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Development, which will support research into improving the sustainability and security of food systems in Australia and China.

Sydney-based biotech company, All G, has secured regulatory approval in China to sell recombinant (made from microbes, not cows) lactoferrin. CEO Jan Pacas says All G is the first company in the world to receive the approval, and recombinant human lactoferrin is “next in line”.