France launches "picnic tax" as part of green tax push

The French environment minister has this week unveiled plans for a tax on non-recyclable throwaway plates and cutlery that looks likely to form part of a wider package of new green taxes.

The so-called "picnic tax" would see a levy of 0.9 Euros raised on throwaway plates and cutlery made from non-recyclable cardboard, but would not apply to plastic tableware.

Newspaper Le Figaro reported that the plans were a forerunner for a wider range of measures that could see new green taxes levied on 19 product categories, including fridges, washing machines, televisions, batteries and wooden furniture.

The changes would be made revenue neutral through the instigation of tax breaks on a range of environmentally friendly products.

According to Reuters reports, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told RTL radio that the proposals were at the planning stage and that no final decision had been reached.

"We are not completely ready," he said. "It has not been decided on definitively."

The proposals are the latest in a series of green tax measures proposed by the French government, which has already seen a so-called "bonus-malus" system introduced that imposes a higher rate of tax on the most polluting cars and offers tax breaks to low emission vehicles.

Earlier this year, French president Nicolas Sarkozy joined with UK prime minister Gordon Brown to propose a reduction in VAT across Europe on environmentally-friendly products such as energy efficient light bulbs.

The latest news comes in the same week as new figures from the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, ADEME, showed that the country is the second largest generator of renewable energy in Europe.

The new figures showed that the French renewable sector generated revenues of €33bn in 2007, creating 220,000 jobs in the process and providing 12 per cent of the country's energy mix.

Hydroelectric power was the leading form of renewable energy, providing 91 per cent of total green energy production. However, the proportion of renewable energy provided by wind power doubled in 2007 to 3.5 per cent of the total, while significant gains were also reported in the fields of solar thermal and photovoltaic power and biomass.