Crackdown on Illegal Plastic Bag Trade in Caserta

In the context of controls aimed at combating the illegal trade of plastic bags, the forestry carabinieri of the Environmental, Agri-food, and Forestry Police Investigative Unit of Caserta conducted a specific verification activity in the territory of the province, finding widespread commercialization of plastic bags provided to consumers for the transport of goods and products, in violation of the sector regulations as they lack identifying elements as well as suitable inscriptions attesting the thicknesses. The commercialization of bags not conforming to the norms entails the imposition of an administrative sanction ranging from a minimum of 2500 euros to up to 25,000 euros, an amount that varies in the case, for example, of large quantities commercialized, as well as the administrative seizure of the irregular bags for the purpose of confiscation and destruction. Specifically, the activity of the forestry military of the Nipaaf of Caserta has revealed the existence of an almost organized system of small intermediaries/retailers who, systematically, and through a precise division of the territory, distributed, in the various points of sale, in addition to the compliant plastic bags, also the irregular ones, naturally devoid of any fiscal documentation that could allow the controlling body to trace back to the producer. The control campaign, which took place in the main municipalities of the province of Caserta, involved more than fifty businesses among commercial establishments, producers, wholesalers, and retailers, and concluded with the seizure of over 2500 kilograms of illegal shoppers, lacking the mandatory indications provided by the current regulations, as well as the attestations by the accredited certifying bodies about the content of renewable plastic materials, whose standard, from 2021, must not be less than 60% of the total composition. For the violations found, administrative sanctions were imposed for a total amount of 65,000 euros.