https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46139180
“They are just everywhere and they are polluting our oceans, our fields, our cities,” says Guillermo González of the 3.4 billion disposable plastic bags used in Chile every year.
Mr González heads the recycling department at Chile’s environment ministry and is only too aware of the problems caused by the huge amount of plastic bags used by his compatriots.
It takes up to 400 years for a single plastic bag to degrade and very few get recycled, he says. “It is a very visible kind of waste and one that people are very concerned about.”
The discarded plastic bags are a problem for wildlife
In August, Chile became the first country in Latin America to ban stores from handing out free plastic bags to shoppers. Under the new rules, anyone who goes to a store will either have to buy a re-usable bag or bring their own.
The ban will come into force for larger stores in February 2019 but many shops have already stopped handing out free plastic bags
The bill passed unanimously in both chambers of Congress and surveys showed that 95% of Chileans supported it.
Under the new rules, large stores will be allowed to hand out two single-use plastic bags per person and those handing out more will face fines of nearly $400 (£315) per bag.