All single-use plastic in the catering establishment in the protected areas in North Macedonia will be banned from the 1st of December 2021, announced the Minister of Environment Naser Nuredini in a press conference about the new package of laws on waste.
Nuredini stressed that starting from December the sale of plastic bags in supermarkets and the grocery stores throughout the country will be further prohibited, and those biodegradable extra-light bags that will be available will cost MKD15, which is more than sevenfold of the current prices, as they now sell for MKD1 or MKD2, and in some supermarket chains are given away free. The money from the sale of the bags will be used by a new fund.
The goal is to demotivate people to use plastics, to decrease this type of waste, to use products made of materials that can be reused and that do not pose any danger to the environment.
The ban on the use of single-use plastic has entered into force in the EU member countries. In July, 10 types of single-use products were banned, such as cutlery, plastic plates, foam food containers, stirrers, plastic cotton bud sticks and all products made of oxodegradable plastic. Starting from last year, the plastic bags apart from the thinnest ones were banned in most of the European countries.
