Costa Rica is a country located in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua in the north, Panama in the southeast, the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Caribbean Sea in the east, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. The population of the country is about 4.9 million people.
The country is famous for its stability of democracy and a highly educated workforce. In addition, almost all regions of the country use environmentally friendly “green” energy sources and the people living in this country are said to be included in some of the world’s happiest nations.
Costa Rica also has a lot of stunning natural beauty. There we can explore waterfalls, forests, volcanoes, and wildlife. This country is believed to be a paradise of nature photography. Not only that, Costa Rica is also rich in biodiversity and animals. 5% of the world’s biodiversity can be found here.
The country has succeeded in reducing deforestation from some of the worst rates in the world from 1973 to 1989, reaching 0% in 2005. Unfortunately, Costa Rica has not succeeded in reducing plastic waste in the country.
Plastic pollution is a big problem caused by the habit of disposing of plastic bottles, bags, and boxes. These are the most widely disposed plastic waste amongst everyday equipment, not only in Costa Rica but in other countries as well.
According to the WEF (World Economic Forum) report on the new plastics economy, 95% of all plastics can be worth up to $ 120 billion annually and discarded after being used in a short time. Today, about one truck full of plastic waste has been headed out to sea every minute.
Of course, this can cause a very bad impact on the marine ecosystem and its surroundings, even for human life. If that keeps happening, then it is estimated that by the year 2050 the amount of waste in the world’s oceans will be greater than the number of fish.
In 2015, a video of a marine biologist that drew a plastic straw from the nostrils of a sea turtle off the coast of Costa Rica had horrendous cyberspace. Seen from the video how the biological struggle pulls the straw out. The video footage makes people aware of the dangers of plastics to marine life.
Every minute, a truckload of plastic that ends up in the ocean can wreak havoc on marine animals. According to estimates, by 2050 there will be 99% of seabirds no longer eat fish but swallow plastic if the plastic waste is not addressed.
In response to the issue, the country is now taking a major step to reduce plastic waste by banning every plastic use in 2021, including the use of straws, bottles, lunch boxes, glasses, and plastic bags. The government has offered incentives to companies, as well as investing research into other options of using plastics to achieve its goals.
Several countries and cities have restricted and even prohibited the use of plastic bags and New Delhi has also implemented a non-decomposing plastic ban. However, this country wants to be the first country to ban any use of plastics in any case.
The announcement of the new regulation was made on World Environment Day on June 5, 2017, when plastic production worldwide reached 8.3 billion metric tons. The amount mostly ends up as mere rubbish.
Realizing how dangerous the impact of waste on the environment, everyone also needs to apply the rules of prohibiting the use of waste on himself. This can speed up the process of reducing the use of plastics that can automatically reduce the amount of waste as well, as stated by the people of Costa Rica.
