A new tax on wrapping papers and cardboard boxes for baguettes and pastries has caused anger among French bakers. In France, there is seemingly nothing controversial about going to your neighbourhood boulangerie and asking for your daily baguette or on your way to work. But a new eco-minded policy might change that.
In recent weeks, French bakers have expressed anger over a new recycling tax targeting the paper sheets and cardboard boxes used to wrap baguettes, pastries and cakes. For each client coming to the till, boulangeries are now expected to pay a tax of 0,0075 cents. The goal is for them to contribute to the recycling costs of their packaging and eventually reduce waste, in an attempt to protect the environment.
The idea of a contribution to the fight against waste is not new. Boulangeries were formerly required to declare every single packaging item they used in order to calculate their annual contribution to anti-waste efforts. The new wrapping tax is designed to simplify this complex administrative system.
Similar contributions have been introduced for other professions, including butchers and cheesemongers. But bakers argue this tax is a new burden in an economy already plagued by and inflation on basic ingredients, such as flour or sugar. Since 2022, the French government has released various aid packages to help bakers who struggled with soaring electricity and gas prices following .
For some, this wrapping tax is simply one too many. “This is the straw that b.
