Mexico City.- For centuries, residents of Mexico City carried warm tortillas on cloth napkins or straw baskets and carried other food in “cones” -paper cones-, ayate bags _una fiber fabric rala orgánica_ or net bags, and even in bundles tied up. The inhabitants of the huge Mexican capital will be able to return to these customs from Wednesday, when a new law that prohibits plastic bags came into force, which became ubiquitous in the last 30 years.
Some say they are ready and eager for the new law. Supermarkets promise to promote reusable bags of synthetic fibers, but others struggle to understand how the ban will effectively affect you.” There’s a rich history of ways that give you things,” said Claudia Hernandez, director of Environmental Culture at the city government. “We have found that people have returned to the cone, to the basket,” he added in reference to the tapered rolled paper that was once used for bulk products, such as nuts, frying or seeds. Some Residents of Mexico City still use traditional ayate bags, cloth napkins to wrap tortillas or baskets. Many _sobre all mayores_ pull edging two-wheeled carts in stores and markets. Some vendors still use cans of sardines to measure bulk foods.
Under the new law, supermarkets will be fined if they give plastic bags. Most already offer reusable bags made of a thick plastic fiber and sold at an approximate price of 0.75 cents (14 pesos).” They don’t give them away, they sell them. I don’t agree with that,” said Ernesto Gallardo Chávez, a city metro employee who wonders what will happen if he one day goes shopping after January 1 and forgets to bring his reusable bags.
Imagine: I forget my bag and I buy products right now,” Gallardo Chávez said. “How do I take them if They don’t give me the plastic bag?”
Like most residents, Gallardo Chávez believes it is “very well” to protect the environment. However, plastic bags in Mexico City are rarely used once. Most residents have bought fair-sized dumpsters for supermarket bags. In addition, bags are often used to collect dog feces on streets, sidewalks and parks.
We occupy bags for garbage, for waste, organic and inorganic; and then we moved them to the garbage truck,” he said.
Director Hernandez said people should make sure they put their trash in plastic bags: “We can deliver directly to the boat.” However, it is complicated given the water shortage in the city. It is very nice to advise residents not to put garbage bags in their dumpsters, but wash the kitchen contender every other day after use because it has no bag will bill the water supplies. This, not to mention the widespread habit of throwing used toilet paper into the dumpster so as not to affect the old and insufficient plumbing of many houses. Used toilet paper is not something that can be delivered without a bag to the garbage collector. Data analytics specialist Daniel Loredo said he plans to store the plastic bags he has right for that goal. However, he and his housemates have already taken steps to create a source of reusable bags and make sure that whoever goes to the store carries some, but for the poorest residents of the city, forgetting to do it even one day could prove expensive in a country where a 14-peso reusable bag equals one hour’s minimum wage.
At the same time it is a challenge, because these types of bags have an additional cost and perhaps not all people can buy a bag (reusable) easily,” Loredo said.
Aldimir Torres, the leader of the National Association of Plastic Industries, called the law “cheap populism.” It considered that the new law was drafted without having clear rules on what kind of degradable bags would still be allowed.
Theme photo: Pixabay (neufal54)
The law leaves the door open to use plastic bags for “hygiene” reasons, presumably for products such as cold meats or cheese. It also allows bags to quickly degrade, but does not specify conditions. It’s “a law that was copied at its base and made on the knees and not including the people who know about those issues,” Torres. For example, the abundant street food stalls in Mexico City often use plastic bags to temporarily cover dishes in places where there is no water or sinks to wash each dish after use. While that might be allowed under the “hygiene” clause of the new law, Hernandez said somewhat naively that it “resolves some dishwashing devices.” The law, he added, had to be implemented quickly.” Sometimes we’re short, I don’t know why, a little bit more pressure to get things done,” Hernandez said. He said the ban “is an invitation and a provocation for us to review the way we consume.”
Loredo believes the law is not perfect, but it’s worth it.
I think in a way it’s a responsible strategy, ultimately keeping proper consumption in our lives,” he said. “It’s something that somehow pollutes and complicates the environment situation.”
By 2021, the same law will ban plastic straws, spoons, coffee capsules and other single-use items.
Original source in Spanish
