Greek market gears up to adjust to single-use plastics ban

The Greek market appears ready to rise to the challenge set by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis regarding a forthcoming ban on all single-use plastics, business representatives told Xinhua.

Mitsotakis announced last Monday from New York, where he was for the UN Climate Action Summit, that single-use plastics will be banned across Greece as of 2021.

Greece has already made some progress in this regard by charging users of plastic carrier bags with an environmental tax over the last couple of years, in compliance with a European Union directive.

This measure reduced single-use plastic bags by an estimated 80 to 85 percent in 2018, compared to the year before, according to a survey by the Institute of Retail Consumer Goods (IELKA).

Applying a ban to all types of single-use plastics, such as cups, bottles, straws and other commodities of everyday use may...