One Ukrainian uses more than 500 packages a year – in the FRG the indicators are less than 10 times

The Kievites signed a petition, according to which the use and sale of plastic bags will be banned in the capital, the Kyiv City Council supported this decision. The site “Today” knew what harms disposable packages, what are the alternatives and whether such a bill can make money in Ukrainian realities.

In the parliament may initiate a bill banning plastic bags

Recently, the residents of the capital signed a petition №2125 on the prohibition of the use and sale of disposable plastic bags.

“For a long time it has been proved that the polyethylene discarded to the landfill and not disposed of by all the rules is completely decomposed for a period exceeding 100. The problem of used packages in the world is already so acute that many countries have adopted or are developing legislation that explicitly prohibit the use of polyethylene packages, “said the petition, which was signed by 10,415 Kyivans.

This initiative was also supported by the Kyiv City Council, which on Dec. 20 at the meeting decided to send a relevant appeal to the Verkhovna Rada to pass a law banning the use and sale of plastic bags, since this issue should be decided not at the local but at the state level.

“It is for this purpose that the Kyiv City Council appeals to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with a request to resolve the issue of prohibiting the use of plastic bags at the legislative level,” the Kyiv City Council said.

From one-time packages refused more than 40 countries

So, according to statistical data, in the countries of the European Union more than 800 tons of disposable packages are used annually, and only 6% of the total amount is sent for processing.

“The time of using the plastic bag for its intended use rarely exceeds 30 minutes, and the period of decomposition is more than 100 years,” says Andrei Fischuk, director of the Department of Urban Improvement and Conservation of the Environment.

So, Fischuk, explains that in Ukraine per person there are more than 500 plastic bags per year, while the average German last year used only 45 such packages.

“This leads to pollution of the environment, causing clogging of streets, green and coastal zones, reservoirs.Thus, around 40 countries have already adopted regulations that either prohibit or restrict the use of plastic bags,” said Kyiv City Council deputy Konstantin Yalova.

For example, in California, one-off packages were rejected in favor of paper packaging as early as 2015, a similar initiative was taken in France and the capital of Belgium, Brussels, and in Kenya, for the use of a plastic bag, they give 4 years in prison and 40,000 dollars in fine.

Will the ban in the Ukrainian realities

In Ukraine, talk about the prohibition of packages are not the first time, but still have not been crowned with success. Back in February, the bill No.6020 “On the regulation of the production, use, import and distribution of polymer packages across Ukraine” was registered in the parliament, which was sent in May for revision.

Despite the fact that plastic bags really do harm the environment and pollute the environment, abandoning them completely and switching to alternative options for Ukrainians will be quite difficult. Moreover, there are no clear mechanisms for controlling the ban.

Thus, the director of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center, Vladimir Boreyko, commented to the site “Today” that prohibition of packages in our realities is impossible for many reasons.

“In order to remove this issue, the environmental commission proposed to appeal to the Verkhovna Rada, which is impossible for many reasons: First, there is nothing to replace plastic bags, secondly, it will be very costly for producers, and thirdly, who will control all this? “, explains Boreiko.

The expert is sure that it will not go further than talking, and the use and sale of plastic bags will never be banned. But you should not think about a complete ban, but about the correct processing of plastic.

“It will not go anywhere afterwards, because it is necessary to write a serious bill, but in our conditions it is impossible.” One can talk about the restriction, about some sort of processing, because it is best to process the plastic, and to ban is, again, control and serious problems, “- says Boreiko.

Recall, it was recently reported that in Vyshgorod, the Kiev region began to sort the garbage. For this, 87 special containers were put in the city.

Sort waste in the town for the time being on two types: one for processing, others for recycling.