Colombia bans single-use plastics as industry seeks green path

Plastic bags, cups, plates, cutlery, plastic stirrers, straws or cotton swabs made of single-use plastic have been officially banned in Colombia as a measure to protect the environment and reduce plastic pollution in the country.

Since July 7, food supply centers, supermarkets and retail stores have been announcing to their customers that plastic bags will not be distributed, but the measure includes several exceptions and bags for meat, dairy and medical products will continue to be distributed.

The law, according to Colombia’s Environment Ministry, seeks to gradually reduce single-use plastic pollution by 2030, in a country where some 700,000 tons of plastic containers and packaging are generated annually, according to figures from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

For Professor Luis David Gómez, professor and researcher at the Faculty of Sciences at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, the removal of these products from the market represents an opportunity to seek sustainable and reusable alternatives to plastic, which is one of the products that has the greatest impact on biodiversity.

“It is a good measure that the country adopts these decisions to be able to reduce the presence of plastic, which is a very resistant and very good material, and that resistance and durability is also the bad side of the aspect because since they are so resistant they are very difficult to biodegrade, so this is very important so that alternatives can be sought in their use,” said Gómez in dialogue with the Voice of America.

According to Colombia’s Environment Minister, Susana Muhamad, the implementation of the law “encourages consumers to change their alternative use. There is a very important power for citizens to stop using these elements and start thinking about a replacement.”

In addition, the measure specifies that in order to remain on the market, “the banned products must present sustainable alternatives focused on biodegradability and compostability in natural environmental conditions and be manufactured with 100% recycled raw materials.”

The VOA spoke with manufacturers and retailers of several products made from this material that have begun to be banned and they point out that “it is very difficult to eliminate” plastic consumption; however, they assure that they “will have to” adapt to the new law.

“The sale of plastic bags has declined, especially those sold for supermarkets, butcher shops and bakeries. Sales have dropped by 50%,” said Julio Soler, a plastic bag dealer who has been in the market for more than 30 years.

Others, such as Davinson Enciso, argue that beyond finding the ban a difficulty, it is an opportunity to see their business grow with innovative products with more sustainable options in accordance with the new policies.

“The measure is good, because there will be a process of circulation of these products that will be reused, recycled and for us it is good because the raw material will be cheaper to produce a biodegradable plastic bag, which is what is sought,” Enciso told the VOA.

“We are going to start manufacturing biodegradable products and reusable bags to reuse them, which is what we want from this product, of which we only receive 10% of recycled materials in our factory, because people are not recycling; so this measure will have to promote recycling,” he added.

Finally, for Vanessa Prieto, coordinator of the Master’s in Sustainability Management at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, the change in the use of these plastics was urgent, even though the panorama remains challenging due to the raw materials in finding a substitute for these products.

“There are some specific difficulties, even though there are substitutes, and in many cases it is due to the cost of these alternative materials, such as bioplastics, which tend to be higher than that of conventional plastics,” he said.

“In addition, there are plastic substitutes such as compostable ones that do not meet the characteristics required by certain products and do not allow the preservation of certain foods, for example, and there is a challenge there and that is linked to the fact that we do not fully understand these materials and it is a learning curve that must be overcome,” he concluded.

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