The French government on Tuesday postponed a ban on plastic throwaway cups by four years to 2030 because of difficulties finding alternatives.
The ban was meant to start on January 1. But the ministry for ecological transition said the "technical feasibility of eliminating plastic from cups" following a review this year justified pushing back the deadline.
It said in an official decree that a new review would be carried out in 2028 of "progress made in replacing single-use plastic cups". It added that the ban would now start January 1, 2030, when companies would have 12 months to get rid of their stock.
France has gradually rolled out bans on single-use plastic products over the past decade as environmental campaigners have stepped up warnings about the impact on rivers and oceans.
A 2020 law set a deadline of 2040 to eliminate all single-use plastics. A ban on plastic bags for loads of less than 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of 30 fruit and vegetables was introduced in 2022 and has dramatically changed supermarket habits.
But the government's DGCCRF consumer protection agency said in a report released last year that almost a fifth of about 100 companies it checked in 2023 were breaching regulations on the production or use of single-use plastic items.
Its investigators said some marketed plastic-free products that in reality contained plastic, and some changed the name of the item in a bid to get around the ban.
