Chile kicks off consultation for sea waste strategy

Chile’s environment ministry (MMA) kicked off a public consultation for a 10-year strategy to deal with waste, especially plastics, on the country’s beaches and in maritime areas.

In 2019, about 164t of waste were removed from 126 beaches, 85% of which was plastic. Most of that came from land-based sources rather through sea currents, the head of the ministry’s international affairs department, Cristian Brito, told a webinar on the plan. 

He said the main issues contributing to plastic pollution include lack of financing for waste management infrastructure, and fishing and transport activity at sea. 

“In Chile there are some regions that don’t have sanitary landfills,” Brito said.

While the country pursues anti-plastic waste initiatives such as the producer extended responsibility (REP) law and banned plastic bags, these are not streamlined.

The MMA’s main objective is to coordinate the measures and focus on maritime protection. 

The plan covers 41 measures to be implemented by 2030, include pushing a ban on single use plastics (currently in congress), promoting technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to improve waste management, and identifying opportunities for international financing for waste management.

Brito told BNamericas that the program doesn’t have a budget, since many of its measures, such as the REP law and waste management decrees, have capex and opex budgets.

“There’s no point in using resources for studies that are already done,” he said.

The public consultation phase for the strategy will end on March 29. Questions and suggestions can be submitted here, in Spanish.