Supermarket chain Walmart in Costa Rica which includes MasxMenos, Maxi Palí, and Palí have announced they will stop providing plastic bags as of January 1, 2021.

Costa Rica has been working on its mission to becoming carbon neutral and banning the single-use plastic; eliminating supermarket bags is part of that goal.

Most Costa Rican supermarkets have been promoting other options to pack groceries that are more eco-friendly, however, they still offer plastic bags to clients that request them.

Walmart will be replacing plastic bags with an option of polypropylene cloth bag that is made with recyclable materials and that require only a fifth part of the energy to produce in comparison to regular plastic bags. These new bags will be sold to clients at a cost of 100 colones (approx. $0.17 USD) and can resist up to 6 kilograms.

“We want to reduce our environmental print, be a step ahead of the legislation and along with our clients, providers, and associates, protect the environment,” commented Mariela Pacheco, sub-manager of Corporate Affairs for Walmart.

The chain affirms they collect annually more than 30 thousand tons of plastic through their recycling program in Central America; the plastic collected is sent to recycling plants for its proper processing.