LatinNews Daily - 21 March 2024

*The Mexican branch of international NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), UK-based climate action NGO WRAP, and Ellen Macarthur Foundation, a UK-based charity committed to creating a circular economy, have presented the Plastics Pact of Mexico (PPMX), a platform which it describes as the “first effort at a national level to coordinate and articulate the efforts of the private sector, academia, local government and organised civil society to reduce plastic pollution and accelerate the transition to a circular economy”. According to a WWF statement, under the global initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), the pact has already been implemented in countries such as Chile; the statement notes the ongoing progress of a Global Treaty, which is being negotiated in over 170 countries, including Mexico. According to the WWF, Mexico generates 5.7m tonnes of poorly managed plastic waste per year - thus contributing to the climate crisis, with emissions related to plastic industries generating 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Mexico is facing major challenges in its reduction of plastic pollution; it cites estimates that between 38%-58% of the plastic waste generated each year is poorly managed and holds a high potential for environmental leakage. Various firms to have joined the PPMX include Yakult México, the Mexican branch of Japanese-headquartered probiotic beverage company Yakult, Portugal-based packaging firm Evertis, and local plastics recycling firm Grupo México Recicla. The first project that the PPMX will focus on is developing a list of “problematic and avoidable plastic products, as well as the identification of joint strategies and solutions to eliminate or reduce them”, according to the WWF statement.