Germany is making major strides towards trying to practice what she preaches in terms of environmentalism.
The country announcement yesterday that it will be implementing a ban on the sale of a multitude of single-use and disposable items in a bid to reduce the amount of plastic and polystyrene waste in the environment.
This includes things like plastic straws, polystyrene cups and boxes (think Cup-O-Noodles), single-use cutlery, plates, and stirring sticks.
German Environmental Minister Schulze said the move was part of an effort to move away from “throw-away culture,” according to AP.
The government’s ban will go into effect next year on July 3, 2021.
The new plan also legislates the closure by 2022 of eight brown-coal operations—mostly located in economically depressed regions—as the number of jobs in renewable energy, which already generates 50% of Germany’s power, increase in those regions.
