Location

Mexico City

Press Contact

Diana Amador, damador@oceana.org

  • The Senators continue with the simulation, protecting the interests of the plastics industry and refusing to reduce the production of plastics that we do not need.
  • The organization calls on Oaxacan senators Raúl Bolaños and Susana Harp to take their own state as an example and implement serious legislative work.
  • The President of the Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change in the Senate has evaded any reform that implies the prohibition of plastics that affect the environment.

Mexico City, April 19, 2021.- The Senate of the Republic will approve this Monday an opinion to modify the General Law for the Prevention and Comprehensive Management of Waste (LGPGIR) that does not put an end to plastic pollution, continues to bet on recycling and only benefits the industry.

Oceana makes an urgent call to Senators Raúl Bolaños-Cacho Cué, president of the Commission for the Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change, and Susana Harp, a member of the same body, to take as an example the notable legislative progress of their own state, to work decisively on a legislative proposal that stops the crisis generated by the contamination of disposable plastics in Mexico.

Since the beginning of the current Legislature, mainly in the Senate of the Republic, more than 25 initiatives have been drawn up to reform the LGPGIR, with the aim of reducing plastic pollution. However, Senator Bolaños Cacho has not followed the example set by the Oaxaca Congress, by evading and blocking any reform that involves the forceful ban on plastics that affect the health of our seas.

As an example, the Commission chaired by Bolaños Cacho developed this initiative that does not incorporate the elimination of disposable plastics from its origin, considers that the incineration of waste is a solution, and transfers the responsibility for the management of polluting plastic waste to the public, rather than in the industry.

“It is noteworthy that both senators, natives of Oaxaca, the state that has done the most in legislative matters to eliminate plastic pollution with the entry into force of its Waste Law, have not been able to have produced a single opinion that modifies the law will effectively solve this serious problem, ”said Esteban García-Peña, director of Oceana’s fisheries and plastics restoration campaigns in Mexico.

Oceana also urges Senator Susana Harp to address the plastics crisis, going beyond simulated solutions to the problem such as the circular economy or recycling, when Mexico only has the capacity to recycle 5% of the plastics that we produce.

“Recycling is no longer an option against plastic pollution. We demand that Senators Bolaños Cacho and Susana Harp take the law of their own state as an example and promote initiatives focused on reducing production levels, in order to move towards a future free of the serious environmental and health scourge that disposable plastics imply “, Garcia-Peña demanded.

In Oaxaca, on October 25, the Law for the Prevention and Comprehensive Management of Solid Waste came into force, which prohibits any sale or distribution of single-use or disposable plastics, including plastic bags, food containers, packaging of all types and PET containers of water or soft drinks, positioning this state as the first in the country with this type of legislation.

According to an analysis by Oceana, the largest international organization dedicated exclusively to the protection of the oceans, more than a million tons of PET bottles ended up in the ocean. In addition, it is estimated that 90% of seabird species have ingested plastic that can cause death and 100% of turtle species have eaten plastic or its derivatives.

For more information contact Diana Amador at damador@oceana.org