Biodegradable Bags Cause Outrage in Italy. (It’s Not Really About Bags.)
Mr. Ciafani said that if the aim of the European directive was to reduce the number of plastic bags, the Italian law missed what could
have been an opportunity to, for example, adopt the mesh bags used in many northern European countries to bag fruits and vegetables.
Vittorio Feltri wrote that We pay half of our income in taxes, and then our blood boils for a bag that costs a euro cent,
Paghiamo al fisco la metà del nostro reddito poi ci va il sangue agli occhi per un sacchetto che costa un centesimo di euro.
The government was firm on one point: The new bags could not be given out for free,
and the charge of 1 euro cent to 3 euro cents per eco-friendly bag had to appear on the sales bill.
Acting under a 2015 European Union directive addressing the global disaster caused by plastic bags, which take hundreds of years to degrade, Italian lawmakers enacted a measure banning the use of plastic bags for fruit, vegetables
and baked goods in favor of eco-friendly biodegradable and compostable alternatives.
"The reuse of the bags could determine the risk of bacterial contamination," the
director general of the Health Ministry Giuseppe Ruocco told Italian media.
Italian news outlets reported that the annual cost per family averaged between €4
and €12.50 per year, or about $4.80 to $15, depending on how much one paid per bag.
