Ministry of the Environment After visiting a Spacio1 convenience store with a system for the sale of returnable beverages, Minister Rojas commented, “the country has a single-use plastics law that seeks to reduce the generation of waste that then ends up in the natural environment. From Sunday, a new phase of this regulation starts, giving more options to the public to choose more sustainable packaging, such as returnable bottles, which can now be purchased in local supermarkets and convenience stores.” The minister called for stores and minimarkets to comply with this law, explaining that there will be purposes for non-compliance. It established that six months after its publication – which expired on February 13, 2022 – food outlets would no longer be allowed to provide the following plastic items: cutlery (fork, knife and spoon ), stirrers, straws, chopsticks, and anything made of polystyrene. Two years after publication of the law (August 13, 2023), the requirement for returnable containers has now been extended to all local supermarkets and convenience stores. This will establish a market in the country for recycling and the creation of green jobs, thus contributing to achieving the goals of the Extended Producer Responsibility (REP) Law for containers and packaging.