Kağan Yeşil
Kayseri Plastic Industrialists Association (BURPAS)
Chairman of the Board
The practice of charging for plastic bags, implemented to reduce plastic waste pollution, has put plastic bag producers in a position of unfair competition. The practice caused discussions among producers and consumers.
Initiated by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to reduce plastic waste pollution, the practice of charging for plastic bags brings about discussions among producers and consumers. Although the aim of the practice is to reduce plastic consumption and minimize environmental damage, the new regulation especially causes plastic bag producers to face unfair competition.
PLASTIC PACKAGING PRODUCERS FACING UNFAIR COMPETITION
As the Bursa Plastic and Packaging Industrialists Association (BURPAS), we have stated on various platforms that the regulation has left plastic bag producers facing cost pressure and unfair competition.
The purpose of the law is to reduce plastic waste consumption and minimize its negative environmental impacts. However, at this point, plastic packaging producers are facing unfair competition. Especially retail stores (textile, apparel, footwear, etc.) are forcing nonwoven products on their customers, leaving consumers with no choice but high-cost packaging. While plastic bag prices are subject to limitations, no such limitation or additional environmental tax is applied to paper and cloth bags. Thus, while stores profit from the bags, the state also suffers a loss of tax revenue.
While cases of coercive practices frequently highlighted on social media draw attention, this situation victimizes both producers and consumers.
VISITS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTION SEARCH
As BURPAS, to share the problems faced by plastic packaging producers and our solution proposals, we visited Fatih Turan, General Manager of Environmental Management affiliated with the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, together with AK Party Bursa Deputy Emel Gözükara Durmaz, and personally conveyed to the authorities that unfair competition must be ended.
As plastic packaging producers, we expect our government to urgently find a solution to this issue. We urgently demand a fair regulation that will alleviate the grievances of both producers and consumers.
This content has been translated using artificial intelligence technology.