To go towards a path of promoting recycling and contributing to the protection of the environment, from this Sunday, February 13, the new measures entered into the Single-Use Plastics Law will come into force, which seek to prohibit all local that sell food deliver cutlery, light bulbs, stirrers and plastic chopsticks, as well as any article of plumavit.
In addition to that, all supermarkets in the country will be obliged to have beverages in returnable bottles available to customers and to receive the containers that they deliver from people.
These indications were approved in August 2021 and now the first stage of implementation and supervision of activity begins. Those who fail to comply with the new regulations risk fines ranging from 1 to 5 UTM ($55 thousand and $250 thousand), in the case of food establishments that deliver plastic elements; and from 1 to 20 UTM ($55 thousand to $1.2 million) supermarkets that do not have beverages in returnable bottle format.
The Minister (s) of the Environment, Marcelo Fernández, explained that “we are aiming to stop using single-use products, that is the bottom line of this regulation, and start getting used to using elements that do not pollute our planet,” he commented. .
The supervision will be in charge of the municipalities, but the call of the authorities is for consumers to dare to denounce offenders both in the municipalities and in the local police courts.
“This regulation is going to allow us to reduce more than 23 thousand tons a year of plastics, which are single-use plastics, and therefore have a tremendous benefit for the environment,” Fernández pointed out.
He also added that “we, as a country, are moving very strongly towards the circular economy and, basically, that is what we are promoting, that there is recycling, that there are products that are friendly to the environment and that are also reuse”. “
Gradually, the plastics law will continue to be implemented for the coming years, so it is projected that in 2023 the obligation to sell beverages in returnable bottles will also be extended to all warehouses and convenience stores; and in 2024 all prepared food outlets in the country will be required to use only reusable products within their premises.
In addition, delivery can only deliver food containers and containers made of “certified compostable plastics” or recoverable materials other than plastic. And the beverage bottles must be made from plastic collected and recycled in Chile.
