On Wednesday, a ban went into effect in Mexico City that prohibits the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in all stores. The law affects all production facilities and service providers in a metropolitan area with approximately 19 million inhabitants.
Mexico City is the second city in the Western Hemisphere to enact such a ban, following San Francisco’s groundbreaking legislation in 2007. Los Angeles has also considered a ban on plastic bags if the state does not impose a 25-cent fee by July 2010 for shoppers that request bags.
The Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, argued for a global ban back in June: “thin-film single-use plastic bags, which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere.”
