Shops in Mexico City risk being fined up to 90,000 dollars if they give customers plastic shopping bags in defiance of a new environmental law that has come into effect, officials said Friday.
The law, adopted in August 2009 and implemented from Thursday, seeks to stop unsightly and non-degradable plastic from polluting the capital, City Hall told AFP.
Initially, authorities will give warnings to stores that they could be fined 4,400 to 90,000 dollars if they do not comply.
Shoppers were being encouraged to use small personal wheeled shopping carts for their groceries.
