Plastic Straws in Mexico

For the last 4 years, I have been exploring Mexico to determine whether I should live here. During the course of the last 4 years I have written a few environmental articles on issues effecting Mexico. In fact earlier this year, wrote about a new company out of CanCun who has reused avocados pits to make straws. I had my first Avocado Straw the other day. Come to find out there are a few restaurants in Bucerias, Mexico that are using Avocado straws.

Straws.. this small little plastic item which has become a symbol of a consumer, disposable society. Being down in Mexico, I wondered how many restaurants were responding to the plastic straw issue… Mixed results.

On Coastal Clean Up day I picked up 41 straws in a quarter of a mile, which tells me that straws are still being used despite the states of Mexico who by law have to  eliminate disposable plastic items over the next year. Surprisingly, before the USA even banned their first plastic bag, back in 2010 the city of San Bartolo Coyotepec (Oaxaca) officially banned the use of plastic shopping bags… 19 years ago.. can you believe that!

Unfortunately over the last several weeks in Bucerias, Puerta Vallarta and a few other small towns,  I had to request no straw for other drinks. Most drinks are served with straws.

The exception was in Guayabitos, a larger Mexico beach town in which they have banned straws, yet straws are littering the beaches. I attribute this the amount of street vendors on the beach and people bringing their own straws.

What is Mexico’s more Eco Friendly plans for the future? With Plastic bottles, styrofoam cups, small ziploc bags with straws, beer bottles litter the streets of Mexico beach towns and literally no real plastic recycling infrastructure in place. I have seen over the years an increase in street people picking up and recycling metals.. but again it is always about glass and plastic that biggest issues.

In Sayulita, San Pancho, Puerta Vallarta and Bucerias, there is a recycling program in place by the Amigos Group, who has placed bins around the cities for recycling and reuses the money for local causes, such as street lights (Bucerias).

In Mexico

• 43 Million Tons of Solid waste are generated.
• 117 Tons of Garbage generated.
• 12% are plastic waste
• 9.76% are recycled. (To be fair, many cities in Mexico, do not have a recycle program)
• 2 Straws per week the average Mexican uses or some 49 Tons of plastic straws used.

What is the most surprising and doesn’t say much for the USA, there is the same amount or less amount of litter in Bucerias, Mexico in the streets as there is in my local streets in San Diego. It is sickening to see, a small town, with little or no trash receptables, no city recycling program, no consumer education, tourists city (like most beach towns) and yet they litter less, most probably because they have less and stuff means more to them.

I don’t know what the answers are, I know Mexico has many challenges, including water shortages, lack of clean water, climate change, deforestation, air pollution, sustainable tourism, short term vacation rentals, overfishing, extinct animals, habitat loss as well, drugs, cartels, as border issues. It will be interesting to see how Mexico continues to respond to these issues over the next few years.

Resources

El Universal Plastic Straws 49 Tons per year 

Mexico News Daily: Oaxaca Congress to ban plastic straws 

Mexico: Poor Waste Management 

Mexico Plastic Recycling