There are no plastic bags or packaging for fruits and vegetables in France.
The sector's packaging industry was upset by the ban on the use of plastic to package fruit and vegetables.
As pollution gets worse around the world, environmentalists have long advocated against single-use plastic.
The sale of under 1.5 kilo of apples is covered by the October decree.
Firms will be able to adapt, including on the sale of red fruits considered fragile, if the full legislation is applied before 2026.
Existing plastic packaging stocks have been granted six months to be used.
The head of the fruit and vegetable sector's Interfel association complained that they were never consulted.
He told Agence France-Presse that the costs were "insurmountable" for small companies who would have to keep using plastic to protect their exports.
Pomanjou has introduced 100 percent cardboard packing over the last three years in order to increase apple production.
The packing costs have gone up 20 to 30 percent.
Casino said it will sell tomatoes in cardboard packaging and give customers paper or bags.
The decree on October 8 caught the packaging companies by surprise.
The Elipso association that represents manufacturers said that they have client firms who will have to stop packing fruit and vegetables because they have been working on alternatives to plastic.
'Market distortion'
Elipso and Polyvia, a union covering 3,500 firms making packaging, have appealed to France's State Council, which has jurisdiction over administrative disputes, against the ban on packaging in France.
DS Smith's director of industrial markets sees benefits for cardboard manufacturers.
He said that 1.5 million tonnes of plastic could be removed from Europe.
"That equates to about 70 billion units of single-use plastic packaging, or seven billion euros, of additional turnover potential for cardboard."
2022.
France banned plastic packaging for fruit and veg on January 2, 2022.
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