QCOSTARICA — Different commercial and productive sectors in Costa Rica have their eyes set on today, Saturday, April 20, the date on which the ban on plastic bags would come into effect.
However, the same regulations impose staggered deadlines to apply their provisions and also ask for some technical requirements that are not yet ready, which implies that not all of its provisions have yet been met.
The main rule was approved in 2019 and placed limits on the use not only of plastic bags but also plastic straws and bottles.
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A regulation would deepen the logistical details of executing the law. This was supposed to come out in a few months, but it was not until April 2023 that the complementary document was published in La Gaceta and from then on it took one year for it to come into effect.
In this text, it was detailed that the prohibition covers marketing and delivering free plastic bags to customers who only use them to carry the goods to their final destination.
The only exceptions would be:
- Small bag measuring 45 centimeters wide x 60 cm long and with a minimum thickness of 0.75 thousandths of an inch; manufactured with at least 50% reprocessed material.
- Medium bag measuring 52 centimeters wide x 68 cm long and a minimum thickness of 0.88 thousandths of an inch; manufactured with at least 50% reprocessed material.
- Biodegradable bags.
No full rules
According to the same decree, these characteristics must be accredited by professional technical entities, “in accordance with the technical parameters established by the Ministry of Health in the regulations of this law.”
Those parameters are not yet.
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“If businesses or manufacturers wish to use single-use plastic bags, they have until the entry into force of the Technical Regulation to publish their use; having to subsequently demonstrate compliance with physical characteristics,” the Ministry of Health acknowledged in a statement.
The question now is when will those additional rules be ready.
“We are working with an intersectoral technical team made up of 2 committees to regulate these two issues and publish the corresponding technical regulations during 2024. Likewise, conversations have been initiated with national laboratories and other members of the National Quality System, in order to comply with technical procedures and international regulatory standards, so as not to generate technical obstacles to trade, and balance regulation with national capabilities,” Health has promised.
What is clear for now is that the limitations on plastic will not cover some fresh products.
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“The Ministry, analyzing the health and environmental risks, has determined that for butcher and vegetable bags (used for weighing and intermediate transport to checkout registers), plastic fulfills a necessary function, and interpreting them outside the scope of the Law and its regulations,” Health noted.
Now or in August?
As stated, the law against single-use plastics covers several products and has different deadlines; where the issue of decrees also adjusted the rules of the game.
According to the law, specific rules for plastic bags, bottles and straws came into effect one year after the regulation. However, that decree established that the rule did not take effect immediately, but after 4 months.
What does this mean? That the regulations as such came into force in August 2023; then the deadlines counted from that moment would not apply this month of April but in a few more months.
Other plastics have their rules
Remembering that other products will also have their controls, the Ministry of Health explained about them:
- Straws: the veto now applies to straws attached to the packaging. The others (not attached to the packaging) must leave the market as of August 20, 2024. The only exceptions will be those associated with medications or in cases of public health emergencies.
- Bottles: starting in August, importers, producers, marketers and distributors must have at least one of the requirements indicated by the authorities. These are implementing a recovery/recycling program; participate in comprehensive waste management programs or establish alliances with municipalities.
Producers: “The regulations do not regulate anything about bags”
From the Costa Rican Chamber of the Plastics Industry (Aciplast) the concerns about the uncertainty regarding the law that directly impacts them are not minor.
On the one hand, they point out that the technical regulations that are pending are required.
This technical regulation has not yet been published, as it is in the process of discussion with institutions and sectors. It is expected to be ready within a year.
The president of Aciplast, Jaime Cerdas, questioned the gaps with which the regulations reach their deadline.
“How can a law be half applied? Basically, the regulations that come into force do not regulate anything in article 4 on bags,” he stated.
“On our side, our associates have been accompanying them for months on this Law, so that they can adopt measures to be certified, however, we still do not have knowledge of a draft of the technical regulation, and this complicates the correct adaptation of the industries and their clients,” he lashed out.
Businesses focus on voluntary transition
The eventual elimination of single-use plastic bags will also imply a transformation in consumer habits and business logistics while facing a panorama with uncertainties that led them to take actions of their own accord.
“There is still no technical regulation regarding plastic bags. In that sense, the application of the law in what corresponds to article 5, would begin to govern from the entry into force of this Technical Regulation, which will also provide legal certainty to retail merchants,” details Olga Vargas, director executive of the National Chamber of Retail and Related Traders (Canacodea).
She adds that they have not received official information from the institutions, but that they hope to make part of the change with clients.
“We urge consumers to adopt the culture of carrying their reusable bags when they go shopping at any type of commercial establishment; because in this way we will contribute to the preservation of the environment,” she assured.
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