This draft is intended to immediately transpose into Belgian law Article 5 of Directive 2019/904, with addition of a ban on the marketing of single-use plastic bags.According to the submitting party, the marketing of said plastic bags must be banned in any case because they are incompatible with a healthy environment: after all, these bags, which take hardly one second to produce, are used for 20 minutes on average, but have a lifespan ranging from one to four centuries. Moreover, these bags pose a serious threat to biodiversity because birds and marine animals swallow them. Bans of this kind are in force not only in France, Spain and Italy, but also elsewhere in the world. For instance, no less than 25 African countries have banned the use of single-use plastic bags.

The draft is intended to amend the Act of 21 December 1998 on product standards to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns and to protect the environment,