Published on May 29, 2017.-

The Minister of the Environment, Marcelo Mena, wrote an accurate opinion column for Recycling Month. In it he highlighted the importance of generating a cultural change in Chile, where each person becomes an environmental citizen capable of recycling, reusing and repairing their waste, clarifying that each individual action is important to move towards a circular economy that values their waste .

For these reasons, he highlighted the advances of the Recycling Law, which is active and in the process of being implemented, with three new statutes approved until today: the "Procedural Regulation", "Regulation of the Recycling Fund" and the “Regulation for the Cross-Border Movement of Waste”. Additionally, studies are being carried out on the market of priority products established by law, together with the recovery and treatment of waste in Chile.

Added to the above are the regulatory modifications that would facilitate the installation of reception and storage centers for these products, which would lead to new "green jobs" for citizens, and could increase job openings by up to 20,000 and 30,000, with jobs associated with the collection, recycling and waste management.

To conclude, he stated that our country is the first in Latin America to have a Recycling Law that establishes the structural conditions for the industry to develop towards higher environmental standards. However, he reiterated that the true shift towards sustainability would take place when each person became an environmental citizen.

Source: Codex Verde