Plastic Bags to be banned in Mexico!
One of the lectures related to the beach clean up activities given to the volunteers during the Mexico Marine Expeditions is about the huge environmental damage that plastic bags cause. According to the United States Environmental Agency between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed globally each year and only 1% of it is recycled (Source: National Geographic News September 2, 2003).
The cases of marine animals that had died due to plastic bag ingestions for mistaken it for food, the hundreds of years that it takes for a plastic bag to degrade and the fact that when it degrades it breaks into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers are worldwide known. However, they are still in the market. Fortunately, every day more and more people avoid using them including GVI Mexico staff and more countries ban its use or at least its free use reducing its consumption.
Now the turn to Mexico has come. Legislators of Mexico City, one of the biggest cities in the world, approved a bill that would hit store owners or operators with 1 1/2 days in jail and fines of about $77,400 for giving customers plastic bags for their purchases. The bill still must be signed into law by the city's mayor and it will give businesses one year to adopt appropriate bags (Source: sea turtle biology and conservation). However it is a great start to be expanded in the whole country and a big step to Mexico! (foto source: www.ison21.es/.../Also, it will also obligate the Ministries of Environment and of Economic Development to launch a plastic substitution program to give facilities and counseling to the plastic bags producers to change their technologies to produce the biodegradable material. They will be assisted by the Mexico City Science and Technology Institute (Source: Notimex Mexico 17th March).
The law initiative was based in studies that show that an average person in Mexico City uses between 150-288 plastic bags a year, the average of it multiplied by 30 million inhabitats of Mexico City results in 6570,000000 of plastic bags to be dumped every year…
To read more about plastic pollution in Oceans please visit:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090315224258.htm
The law initiative was based in studies that show that an average person in Mexico City uses between 150-288 plastic bags a year, the average of it multiplied by 30 million inhabitats of Mexico City results in 6570,000000 of plastic bags to be dumped every year…To read more about plastic pollution in Oceans please visit:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090315224258.htm
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