Plastic recycling

According to the decision introduced by our government, from January 1, 2019, sellers were prohibited from providing free polyethylene bags to customers who purchased products. In addition, it was forbidden to add the value of packages to the price of purchased products or to sell them at prices below their cost. Taking into account foreign experience and public discussion, the State Ecology Committee, together with the relevant ministries and agencies, was tasked with submitting reasonable proposals for the introduction of an environmental levy to the group of manufactured and imported goods that cause damage to the environment after losing their useful properties by January 1, 2020.

Also, it is prohibited to produce packages from polymer film with a thickness of less than 40 microns on the territory of the country. Only packages made of polymer materials without biodegradable handles – packages that are considered an integral part of product packaging, as well as packages for household use – were allowed. After reading the above points, many people may have thought that plastic bags are about to disappear, but this is not quite true. Currently, the recycling of plastic products is widely promoted, and because it is somewhat difficult to recycle very thin plastic bags and it is not justified to recycle them, we can say that it is easier to recycle thicker plastic bags, i.e. 40 microns.