In Puerto Rico, 1,100,000,000 million plastic sorbetos are used annually, which are not recyclable and do harm the environment.
This was highlighted today by Noel Portalatín, consultant and auditor in systems and networks, and Jessica Ríos, president of The Barmaid PR, about the studies they have done.
The information was disseminated during the public hearings today around the House Project 1746, authored by the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs, Joel Franqui, which proposes to prohibit the use of single-use plastic sorbet. in all commercial establishment, sales and distribution authorized to conduct business in Puerto Rico.
Franqui said the measure, “saves the island from drowning in plastic and affect the environment and marine animals before it’s too late, we can not see it at the moment, but the plastic sorbetos are more expensive in the long run. full dumps, (plastic sorbetos) can not be recycled in Puerto Rico for the material, it is time for Puerto Rico to step in and be an example “.
For its part, Portalatín validated data from the TripAdvisor application that highlights that in Puerto Rico there are registered 4,673 restaurants and bars to which are added more than 500 fast food restaurants, not counting the Chinese restaurants, some “chinchorros”, carts of food, gas stations, grocery stores, events and festivals.
“We are talking about a conservative number (may be more) of 8,000 establishments where plastic sorbetos are used.
Not including grocery stores and other establishments where they offer some type of drink. In Puerto Rico, 44 of the 78 municipalities have a coastline and many establishments are close to the coast. We visited the salt flats in Combate, Cabo Rojo to see the plastic contamination in the area where salt is produced, “said Portalatín.
“We observed and collected about 30 pounds of all kinds of plastic, as well as plastic bottles, lids, sponsors of soft drinks, sorbetos, glasses, plates, jars of motor oil and fragments of plastic in an area of 500 linear meters around the pools that they form for the production of salt “, formulated the environmental analyst who recommended that the solutions do not come from a single direction or a single sector.
For his part, Carlos Enrique Pacheco, engineer by profession, farmer and active member of the Madre Tierra Organic Cooperative, expanded that different recyclable and biodegradable products are made and that apart from the sorbetos made of paper or bamboo, there is also corn fiber , avocado, among others.
In response to questions from representative Franqui, both parties agreed that replacing single-use plastic sorbets with recyclable or biodegradable ones is cost-effective because their cost is about 1 cent per customer, which is the same as the current one.
Finally, the representative said that it has been proven in public hearings that Puerto Rico is ready for change, it is a matter of more education. The options are People with special needs also have options that are not necessarily plastic. Not doing anything is not an option. We have to be proactive and we in the Caribbean are the example for other Islands and the world. (EFEUSA) .-
