The French government is instituting a new tax on non-recyclable disposable plates and silverware. The tax is intended to encourage consumers to purchase eco-friendly products.

Jean-Louis Borloo, the French Environment Minister, suggested in an interview with Reuters that the tax could be expanded to consumer electronics. French newspapers are reporting that government officials have agreed on a list of items that may be taxed, including refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, batteries and wooden furniture, but Borloo said that no final decision has been made.

The "picnic tax," as the new tax has been dubbed, has been heavily criticized by the CSEMP — an organization representing the plastics packaging industry. The CSEMP has argued that the tax will be costly and does not target products that create the most waste. Companies producing green products will receive tax breaks, paid for entirely out of the funds raised through the picnic tax. Borloo said that the tax would be 0.9 euros ($1.26), but did not specify the quantity that tax applies to.

This isn't France's first foray into using taxation to encourage consumers to buy green. The country's "bonus-malus" systems taxes vehicles with heavy carbon emissions while providing green vehicles with a tax break.

Using tax incentives has proved somewhat successful in encouraging consumers to purchase green vehicles in both Europe and the U.S., although many buyers have commented that they would have purchased a green vehicle with or without a tax incentive. Applying such a plan to disposable consumer goods may have a clearer impact; with the picnic tax in place, biodegradable and recyclable tablewares will be cheaper than their non-recyclable counterparts. Adding a tax incentive for producers who have made the effort to improve their products seems to be an ideal opportunity to convince companies to make the switch to selling environmentally-friendly products.

While the tax incentive may not provide the funding needed to make the necessary changes to factories making such a switch, it can make the process more financially feasible. Furthermore, there's the fact that the tax is essentially neutral: to offer the tax incentive, the French government does not need to use any revenues except those raised through the picnic tax.

The picnic tax may have an added bonus of focusing buyers' attention on just which products they buy are not recyclable. Whether or not consumers make an effort to change their purchasing habits, knowing that eco-friendly options don't have an added tax is likely to encourage them at the very least to check which brands are recyclable.

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