Close×

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.

bck_10_gl_detail1

"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

Inghams has returned to volume growth with reduced dependence on Woolworths but net profit fell 61.5 per cent to $34.6 million as input cost inflation, first half production inefficiencies and a tax provision weighed on FY26 earnings.

Endeavour Group’s decision to reset shelf prices at Dan Murphy’s has restored sales momentum but taken a heavy toll on earnings, with annual profit down 87.8 per cent to $52 million for FY26 after $372 million in pre-tax significant items covering restructuring, asset writedowns and the exit from its winery portfolio.

Food and beverage businesses that delay adopting AI, precision agriculture, digital modelling and fermentation technologies risk being locked out of the commercial opportunities attached to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a new perspective paper from Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) says.