translated from Spanish: Guatemala bans single-use plastics

Government Agreement 189, published this Friday in the Official Journal, prohibits the use and distribution of bags, straws, “mixers or agitators”, plates and vessels and “containers or containers for food storage and transfer”, both d and plastic as expanded polystyrene (duroport) when disposable “in their different presentations, shapes and designs”. The Guatemalan authorities have expressly excluded materials for medical or therapeutic use and imported products that have the factory seal and inside have plastic or duroport materials, according to the official news agency AGN. The Executive gives two years to natural and legal persons to adapt to the regulatory change, but warns that, after this time, the sanctions contained in the Law on Environmental Protection and Improvement will apply.In March, the European Parliament will apply decided to ban the most popular use and throwing plastic goods from 2021 with the aim of reducing their impact on the environment, as they account for about 70 per cent of the plastic waste that pollutes the waters and beaches of the territory Community. Subsequently, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in June that his government plans to ban single-use plastic products in 2021. “Honestly, as a parent, it’s hard to try to explain this to my children,” he said of whale deaths “with stomachs full of plastic bags.” At the heart of these movements is the fact that countries that receive the rubbish of the so-called ‘first world’ are increasingly reluctant to accept plastic waste because they are difficult to recycle and often the only way to dispose of them is to burn them free toxic substances.

Original source in Spanish