Proposal seeks to delay the debate, since it asks to carry out a study before evaluating a Plastics Law , despite the fact that there is international evidence on the impacts of plastic pollution.
The draft law of the Production, Micro and Small Business and Cooperatives Commission that requires a socio-economic environmental study of the plastics industry and provides for the creation of a multi-sectoral commission, would mean a setback towards reducing plastic pollution in the country, he warns Oceana.
Said pre-ruling, which will be discussed this Tuesday in the commission, ignores everything that is advanced in the process in the Legislative Branch, where consensus has been reached among various parties. This has been reflected in the approval of two opinions in the Economic Commission and the Commission of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology. On the contrary, the Production Commission’s ruling does not propose a concrete solution to the problem, rather it seeks to postpone the approval of a Plastics Law.
“We only have to ask ourselves the underlying reasons that may lead the members of this Commission to ignore the consensus already achieved after almost a year of technical debate, to ask for more studies that, while always welcome, should not delay taking concrete measures to attack the problem today ”, stresses Carmen Heck, Policy Director of Oceana Peru.
There is an international consensus on the serious environmental problem caused by plastic pollution, with impacts not only on biodiversity but on the economy and food security.
There are already more than 37 countries and the European Union, including countries in the region such as Chile and Colombia, which have regulations to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics. “Meanwhile, only in Lima and Callao, n 886 tons of plastic waste are produced per day and only 0.3% is recycled,” adds Heck.
In the country, it is not only environmental organizations that are in favor of this Law, also companies , large and small such as supermarkets, food chains and restaurants, have joined this initiative. Peru has already demonstrated that public health is above private interests by passing the Healthy Food Law, it is time to take the next step and pass a law to regulate single-use plastics.
If the proposal of the Production Commission were approved, this would imply that once the studies are carried out, new legislative proposals would have to be presented and the process started from scratch.