Seven years have passed since the approval of the Royal Decree 293 / 2018, of May 18, on the Reducing plastic bag consumption and by which the Register of Producers is created and since then The number of plastic bags placed on the market each year in Spain has decreased by 40%..
These figures are obtained from the registry compiled by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, created within the framework of this Royal Decree and which collects data on bag manufacturing and imports since 2017.
In that year, the Spanish market consumed 11.238 billion plastic bags (including both traditional and compostable plastic). In 2023, the latest year for which data is available, the figure drops to 6.890 billion. If we calculate consumption per capita, in 2017, 241 bags were placed on the market per capita, while in 2023, the figure fell to 142, a 40% decrease.
Bet on reuse
With these figures, the objectives of Royal Decree 293/2018 are being met. This decree, which aimed to reduce the consumption of these products, promote reuse and the use of compostable materials, and established the characteristics that bags placed on the market from then on must meet:
• Plastic bags with a thickness equal to or greater than 50 microns and containing at least 50% recycled material. These bags are designed to be reusable, are disposed of in the yellow bin at the end of their useful life, and can be manufactured in accordance with UNE Standard 53930-1 and 2. They are used in supermarket checkout lines and in general retail, and a fee is usually charged for them: if they contain more than 70% recycled plastic, there is no requirement to charge for them, but if they contain less, there is.
• Lightweight bags (between 15 and 49 microns) and very lightweight bags (less than 15 microns) made from compostable material in accordance with European Standard UNE-EN 13432. These bags are single-use, primarily used in the fruit and vegetable section of supermarkets, and at the end of their useful life are disposed of in the organic bin for composting. Bags measuring less than 15 microns are not subject to a fee, while those measuring 15 to 49 microns are.
In accordance with this Royal Decree, traditional plastic bags with a thickness of less than 50 microns should not be provided in any establishment. If there are establishments that do so, they are violating current regulations by purchasing bags from fraudulent suppliers.
Bag consumption by material
Based on the raw materials used, the production of traditional plastic bags—made from polyethylene and which, by Royal Decree, must contain at least 50% recycled material—has fallen from 11.198 billion to 3.677 billion, or from 240 bags per inhabitant to 76.
Compostable bags have followed the opposite trend, with their use increasing as they are prioritized for single-use applications, such as in the fruit and vegetable sections of supermarkets, so they can be disposed of in the organic bin and composted. They have gone from being waste in 2017 (when 40 million bags were manufactured, or 0,86 bags per inhabitant) to 3.200 billion bags being consumed in 2023, or 66 bags per inhabitant.
Consumption of recycled material
With the requirement to use recycled material in the manufacture of plastic bags with a thickness equal to or greater than 50 microns, the industry has significantly increased its consumption of recycled plastic. In 2017, also according to data provided by producers to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, 8.000 tons of recycled material were used, while in 2023, 40.000 tons were used. In total, from 2017 to 2023, 194.000 tons of this type of material were consumed, which means that the emission of more than 300.000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere has been avoided.
These figures demonstrate the growing public awareness of sustainability, a commitment to reuse and collaboration in the proper end-of-life management of different types of bags, as well as the industry's efforts to adapt to these developments in record time.
