Norway to request exemption to EU plastic bag regulations

14 October 2015

The Director of the Norwegian Environment Agency has asked the Norwegian Ministry of Environment to request an exemption to the recently enacted EU provision on plastic bags. According to her, the plastic carrier bag provision is irrelevant to Norway. Plastic bags are not a litter problem in Norway. 82% of use lightweight plastic carrier bags are reused to contain trash, and 15% are recycled into new products. Only 3% are disposed or recovered as energy.
The provision requires all EU Member States to either end lightweight plastic carrier bag distribution by 2017 or reduce per capita consumption to 90 bags by 2019 and 45 bags by 2025 (Recycling Laws International, 12 October 2015).
Click here for the announcement (in Norwegian).
Click here for the directive published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
With NVC MERGE (Members-only Environmental Regulations Guide) you can stay up-to-date with the environmental requirements for your packaging. MERGE is exclusively for NVC members and there are no costs involved.
Click here for more information about the NVC E-Workshop Sustainable Innovation in Packaging.

If you have any questions about this subject, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411. This item is also included in our monthly overview, the NVC Members-only Update.