Mexico City legislators pass plastic bag ban (school, deed, live)

[Travelling fella]

MEXICO CITY: Mexico City legislators have approved a bill that would hit store owners or operators with 1 1/2 days in jail and fines of about $77,400 for giving customers plastic bags for their purchases.

Mexico City legislators pass plastic bag ban - International Herald Tribune

[Mach50]

That's good news for the environment. San Francisco was the first big city here to put that ordinance in place.

It's amazing when I see the stats for how many plastic bags are used around the world. Before the ordinance, San Francisco used an estimated 180 million plastic grocery bags a year with less than 1% being recycled.

San Francisco only has 700k population. Imagine something the size of Mexico City...

And dang! That's quite a penalty too, here it is only a 500.00 fine or something.

[SarahSal]

Amazing news! Hope it passes - we all need to go back to the days when our parents and grandparents carried their own bags to the supermarket (early conservationists). The belief that we have an endless supply of *everything* and can throw it all away without any consequences will be the undoing of our planet.

Overflowing dumps - greatly exascerbated by millions (probably trillions) of throwaway diapers - should be forcing municipalities to consider the many ways they can help the environment legally through their governmental powers.

Cheers to places like Mexico City and San Francisco for taking these first steps! Recyling should be mandatory everywhere..

[Steve Bagu]

Been a while since I lived in Mexico City but do recall the street litter of small plastic bags with straws that held soda for the kids or the small plastic boxes with a soft drink inside that kids would discard into the street curb. Of course the city had many men (some alcoholics) with a small cart with wheels and a broom of sort sweeping the gutters every day for low pay. They came by every day where I lived in Narvarte and we would give the guy a drink or what was left in the bottle from the night before.

Kids throw all kind of debris into the gutter...not so much the adults. Lived 1/2 block from school and saw this all the time. I bought some plastic bags from the US for the house keeper to use in the kitchen but she was too dense and would always put the waste food directly into the plain old trash can and then have to scrub it later to clean it. Slop was always tied into one bag and when the trash truck came to the corner intersection all the housekeepers would carry these bags to the truck. Been a while so things may have improved since then (hope so). Only reflecting on the past. Steve

[zacatecana]

In deed great news, I also remember looking out the car or bus window and the beautiful panoramas distroyed by the plastic bags that decorated bushes, dry land, green pastures and rivers. I know it has gotten better over the years but this is a great step into keeping Mexico a beautiful country. Wow...thanks for the news.