In the last months of 2016, the government of Argentina and its capital Buenos Aires decided that no more plastic bags would be given from that point on in supermarkets. Although this measure was critiqued by some it has proven to be a success in these past few months. Supermarkets offer cardboard boxes in which they had been delivered goods as a substitute to all those that didn?t want to carry groceries. Instead of giving out hundreds of plastic bags a day, supermarkets are selling paper bags and the aforementioned boxes are free for anyone to take. This has led to a reduction of contamination of different kinds and is sure to have an impact in the future.

Another measure that was taken this past year was the recycling containers that stand in the parking lot of the supermarkets. Divided in different kind of plastics and papers, groceries stores are giving citizens the chance to recycle if they want to in a way that is comfortable. Materials that can be recycled are later on transported to a place where they can be recycled and used to create new products. This is not just the case in one isolated supermarket. After visiting different supermarkets in different parts of the city I was sure that this was the case. Every supermarket offered recycling possibilities and no longer offered plastic bags to its clients.

After asking some other shoppers they agreed that while it wasn?t the smoothest of transitions, they thought that it was something that the government should have implemented earlier nationwide. Other cities such as Bariloche and cities in Neuquen had implemented these more than 5 years ago. Looking at it from this point of view the capital city certainly lagged behind. In the end what matters the most is the fact that while it may take a while Argentina is slowly stepping towards a better future where recycling is concerned.