The Ecuadorean Government announced the environmental initiative to reduce the use of disposable plastic containers in Galapagos.

This environmental and public health initiative seeks to ban the use of plastic shopping bags, flexible foam and disposable plastic bottles especially in populated areas.

Additionally, the waste collection continues and, thanks to the coastal cleaning campaign, 22 tons of plastic waste was collected from the islands, 90% of which comes from the continental coast of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, China, the Philippines and Central America. It is estimated that all these materials can remain in the environment for up to 500 years.

The campaign invites people to replace plastic bottles by glass containers and plastic bags by reusable cloth or jute bags, which are environment friendly and avoid polluting the marine ecosystem.

From the next dates it is not allowed to introduce to Galapagos in hand luggage, neither in checked luggage, nor as cargo the following:

• Plastic straws from May 26, 2018.
• Plastic bags from July 26, 2018.
• Flex foam packaging from October 26, 2018.
• Plastic bottles as of February 26, 2019

Source: www.eltelegrafo.com.ec