The beginning of the end: Chile officially bans plastic bags in businesses

In May, Chile’s Congress passed a bill that banned businesses from using plastic bags across the entire territory.

The measure was published Friday in the Government Gazette, which means it officially became a law.

Thus, as of today, retailers will have a six-month period to stop using them. Small businesses, on the other hand, should do so in two years.

Councils were put in charge of supervising businesses and those who break the law face fines of up to 400 dollars per bag given.

Chile now joins the war on plastic as the first country in America to forbid bags in this scale. President Sebastián Piñera stated that the move was good for the country and the world.

“(Bags) Are polluting our country, our beaches, our fields, our streets. Besides, they are negatively affecting fish and birds”, he said earlier today.

In a historic move, president Michelle Bachelet presented a similar bill in September 2017, aiming to forbid plastic bags in over a 100 coastal cities. Back in La Moneda, Piñera decided to extend that project to the rest of the country.

The environment was an important issue for Bachelet during her second administration. Her stance against a mining project near a national reservoir led to a crisis in her cabinet and to the resignation of the secretaries of Finance and Economy.