Published April 25, 2019.

Eight million tons of plastic end up in the sea every year, which is equivalent to emptying a garbage truck per minute.

In Chile, consume approximately 99 thousand tons of plastic per year, of which recycles 83,679 tons (8.5%). Of that last figure, 17% (14,281 tons / year) are of domiciliary origin and 83% (69,398 tons / year) of origin not domiciliary.

In this context, On April 15, the Ministries of the Environment and Economy, Corfo, among other public and private companies signed the Chilean Plastics Pact (PCP), which is part of a global effort promoted by the Ellen Foundation MacArthur from the UK, called the Global Pacts for Plastics Network, which was launched in 2018.

Chile is the first Latin American country to join this initiative, which brings together all actors in the value chain - companies, policy makers and NGOs - and that establishes concrete goals to reduce the use of plastics, favoring the innovation, reuse and recycling.

The goals that will commit Chile to 2025 will be announced in June, addressing four areas action: ensure that all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable; eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging and single-use issues through redesign and innovation; increase the reuse, collection and recycling of post-consumer plastic packaging, and increase recycled content in plastic packaging.

If you want to learn more about this topic, we invite you to read “Ministra Schmidt convoca a grandes empresas a unirse a pacto para combatir contaminación por plásticos”.