Support The Moscow Times!

Calls to Ban Plastic Bags Mount in Russia as Trash Crisis Deepens

Pixabay

Russian lawmakers have stepped up calls to ban plastic bags over the past week amid mounting concerns about pollution and Russia’s national waste crisis.

Moscow’s plan to export its waste to surrounding regions has riled Russian citizens in recent months, while nationwide trash reforms threaten to shut down garbage collectors in nine regions. In the European Union, plastic items such as straws, forks and knives as well as cotton buds will be banned by 2021, and Russia’s Leningrad region banned single-use plastics last year.

“I think, firstly, we need to start by banning supermarkets from giving out any bags for free, like in European countries,” Moscow region Duma deputy Alla Polyakova said Monday.

“Second, we need to start with ourselves. [We should] fully ban plastic products in the government,” Polyakova, who chairs the regional legislative environmental committee, was quoted by the regional Duma website as saying.

Her proposal comes less than a week after a senior member of the State Duma’s Natural Resources Committee asked the government to consider banning plastic bags in Russia by 2025.

“I’m absolutely convinced that the transition period will be enough to prepare the economy for this step,” lawmaker Vasily Vlasov wrote to Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.

More than 26 billion plastic bags are handed out every year in shops across Russia, according to Greenpeace. UN estimates say only 9 percent of 9 billion metric tons of plastic produced in the world has been recycled.

Reuters contributed reporting to this article.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more