Qué sabe el consumidor del daño ambiental provocado por el vaso desechable y la necesidad de sustituirlo

The objective of this work was to know the amount and frequency with which the people of Arandas in the Altos de Jalisco region use disposable cups and then know how willing they are to use edible cups made with natural gelatin. In this regard, it is worth commenting that these can not only be nutritious for those who consume them (since gelatin is a fortifying nutrient created from the skin and bone of pigs and cows), but they could also be degraded in a few days or be ingested by animals. To collect the information, a survey consisting of six questions was used, which was applied to 31 people by telephone and another 345 personally (in both cases they were applied to young people and adults). The results show that the residents of that town considerably use plastic cups in the different events that take place each week, which are more numerous during the patron saint festivities or at the end of the year. Even so, these people would be willing to change these habits, although for this, measures must be taken that do not affect the companies in that area, which work mainly with plastics and generate a high percentage of jobs.


Introduction
When the production of petroleum products began, it was sought to facilitate human activities. However, this initiative was never expected to cause such serious side effects or even put life on the planet at risk. Many of these products have been widely accepted and are present in all activities carried out by human beings. Unfortunately, when they are discarded, they reach lakes, rivers and seas, and affect aquatic ecosystems and their species. Plastic waste (bags, straws, bottles, etc.) (General Directorate of Documentation, Information and Analysis Services, 2019) thrown into the sea has formed a floating island of approximately 1.6 million km2, that is, three times the size from France (Lebreton, 2019). In fact, on land it is common to find organic waste mixed with bags, straws, household and industrial disposable containers, furniture, moldings, among others. In addition, and because they are not biodegradable, they have become a worldwide problem directly related to global warming and the deterioration of the environment and ecosystems.
On the other hand, many disposable manufacturing companies that use petroleum derivatives as raw materials have been establishing themselves in smaller and smaller towns, hence these localities depend on them. Likewise, it is necessary to say that due to the cost of these products, its inhabitants are excellent consumers. Due to this widespread use, every time they use a product (glass, container, molding, etc.), throw it on the ground or place it in bags mixed with household organic waste, they end up in the open-air dumps of the towns.
This happens because the consumer is never explained the proper way to dispose of the plastics that have been used, which has caused great problems on the planet that are difficult to combat and even more difficult to reverse.
Although humans have always affected ecosystems, with the arrival of the disposable this process accelerated, which is evidenced in the emergence of new natural events, such as the "boy and girl phenomena" (Vásquez, Dorado and Rosales, 1996), the inexplicable absence or abundance of rains or the red tide. All of the above has increased the danger of extinction of many species, as well as the increase in temperature, the emission of gases into the atmosphere by polluting processes in industries and vehicles, the "organic waste" that produces enormous amounts of methane and the " inorganic garbage "of difficult degradation.
These pollutants, logically, can be seen in rural areas, fields, rivers, beaches, seas, urban areas, streets, landfills, drainage systems and water tables, which are saturated by leachates that escape from plastic cans and plasticized cardboard. To reverse these effects, new generations must be educated, who must change their habits in terms of classifying and separating garbage, recycling it and selecting cleaning and transport products that are friendly to the environment. Likewise, projects should be devised that allow finding new raw materials to replace oil derivatives.
Therefore, the objective of the present work was to know the amount and frequency with which the people of Arandas in the Altos de Jalisco region use disposable cups and then know how willing they are to use edible cups made with natural gelatin. In this regard, it is worth commenting that these can not only be nutritious for those who consume them (since gelatin is a fortifying nutrient created from the skin and bone of pigs and cows) (OKDiario, December 12, 2016), but They could also degrade in a few days or be ingested by animals.

Theoretical framework
Products that use petroleum derivatives as raw material for their production are extremely common in the lives of human beings (office, workshop, home, clothing, etc.).
These were originally created to facilitate various activities, although many are used only once, so they quickly become non-reusable garbage. The international agreements promoted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (Bremer, 2018) to avoid the use of polluting materials in the environment have been signed by Mexico, which has forced the nation to enact laws to mitigate the side effects of these products (Directorate General for Documentation, Information and Analysis Services, 2018). Those laws prohibit the use of petroleum-derived raw materials for the manufacture of Styrofoam food packages, straws and plastic bags, hence the choice for biodegradable materials.
On the other hand, the OECD establishes that in Mexico -of the total waste generated -only 9.6% are recycled, which is due to the low awareness of people to care for and improve the environment (Muñoz, 2019). For this reason, this project seeks to raise awareness about this reality in inhabitants of the town of Arandas in the Altos de Jalisco region, since its economy is based on the production of disposable products, which are distributed to others. places in the country and even to some Central American nations.
Indeed, although Arandas is characterized by its production of tequila, dairy products, carnitas and furniture, it is also true that this town currently has 20 manufacturing companies of plastic products, which have been in the region for more than 30 years and currently they generate 6000 direct jobs and 2000 indirect ones. According to the president of the National Association of Plastic Industries (ANIPAC), José Anguiano, 90% of the plastic-producing factories have the capacity and infrastructure to produce recycled plastic as raw material, but the products that serve for food containers and drinks for human consumption have to be made with virgin raw material (Ramírez Gallo, 25 de agosto de 2018).

Jalisco in the quest to ban the use of plastic containers
In 2018, the Jalisco Congress met with the purpose of analyzing and approving a bill to prohibit disposable products made with Styrofoam or plastic. The fact that the state is one of the main producers of plastic and disposable containers in the country was taken into consideration. In fact, it was foreseen that if the initiative presented by the councilor Juan José Cuevas in the municipality of Puerto Vallarta (and later the deputies of Movimiento Ciudadano, Verónica Jiménez and Lourdes Martínez) were approved, reforms to the State Law of the Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, and the Law of Comprehensive Waste Management. This, however, would directly impact some 40,000 jobs in the sector, who could see their sources of work at risk.
For this reason, economic analysis is extremely important, since these laws affect employers, workers and families. In this type of analysis, therefore, it must be considered that with the prohibition, the companies would be affected by their contracts for the acquisition of supplies, machinery and face their debts, which would cause bankruptcy, as stated by Arturo Álvarez, president of the Plastics section of the Regional Chamber of the Transformation Industry (Careintra). According to Careintra, the municipality of Arandas in the Los Altos area is where more plastics are produced on a national scale, while Jalisco is the main exporter of containers, packaging, packaging and disposable plastic products for the Pacific region (Romo, 31 July 2018).

The head of the Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Development, Sergio
Humberto Graf Montero, endorsed the measure, but requested that a diagnosis and an action plan be prepared beforehand. To do this, one could start with straws and then continue with plastic disposable bags and disposables used in certain places (such as supermarkets) (Romo, July 31, 2018).
It is worth noting that these laws do not seek to stop economic activity, but rather to promote the generation of products using other ecological alternatives (Blanco, July 13, 2018). The objective is to ensure that entrepreneurs do not abandon the state or their economic activities, but become the first industrialists to invest in the transformation of their equipment to adapt them to new requirements.
One option, therefore, would be to use raw materials that would be used to produce "edible cups", since the current ones cannot be reused. In principle, the proposal would focus on the manufacture of gelatin cups, which can be edible or used as compost for highly organic compost.

Disposition
One of the most important information regarding the provisions on the use of plastic bags comes from the municipality of Pachuca (Mota, March 9, 2018), where the Regulation on Environmental Protection and Climate Change prohibits establishments from providing plastic bags to carry products in shops. The Pachuca delegation of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Canaco Servytur) has 20,000 registered establishments which were informed that they must comply with this provision.
For its part, in Jalisco law initiatives were made to prohibit the use of plastics in the state from 2020. Before the State Congress, and due to the tons of fish and birds that die daily victims of pollution generated by plastic and polyethylene -mainly in the tourist areas of Puerto Vallarta-, deputies Verónica Magdalena Jiménez Vázquez and María Lourdes Martínez Pizano will present an initiative to gradually ban the use and manufacture of products made with plastic and Styrofoam, both derived from petroleum.
At a press conference, the deputies in the company of the councilor of the municipality of Puerto Vallarta, Juan José Cuevas García, announced that in plenary session they would present the initiative because the use of plastic has been causing irreparable damage to the planet and the problem worsens, since More than 300 million tons of plastic are produced annually, which end up contaminating lake bodies, mainly rivers and seas.
With this proposal, it is intended to reform the State Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection and the Law of Comprehensive Waste Management in order to apply it to the 125 municipalities of the state. The initiative proposes changing the use of plastics for reusable substitutes, as well as promoting the use of suitable containers and containers to avoid buying drinks and food in plastic, Styrofoam or bag; in addition, reduce the purchase of bottled water and encourage the use of water filters and improve the management of recycling from businesses and homes.
Likewise, it is expected that the beach service providers will make producers and users aware of changing plastic and Styrofoam for raw material such as gelatin; With this, the first step will be taken for its use, and later this type of products will be sought and demanded in their places of origin.
It should be noted that this initiative was expected to enter into force as of January 1, 2020. In addition, the legislators stated that industrialists will be given opportunities to make their "edible" products using biodegradable raw materials, such as corn starch.

Information processing
To collect the information, a survey consisting of six questions was used, which was applied to 31 people by telephone and another 345 personally (in both cases they were applied to young people and adults).
The first question (in both surveys) allowed establishing the number of cups that respondents use per week, since the accumulation of non-degradable garbage depends on them (Table 1). On the other hand, in the second question posed to the people, they were asked about the type of material with which the glasses they use each week in different events are made ( Fuente: Elaboración propia

# vasos # personas (encuesta 1) # personas (encuesta 2)
The data in Table 2 indicate that the majority of the population of Arandas uses disposable plastic cups to hold their events. In this regard, it is worth noting that in this town between 5 and 10 massive events are held per week, which more than 100 people attend.
These figures, however, can increase significantly in the months when, for example, the management holidays or the end of the year are held.

Julio -Diciembre 2020
In question number 3 it was sought to know whether or not they knew about the damage caused to the environment by plastics that are thrown in the garbage. The results were quite encouraging, since Table 3 shows that a large number of people know what happens with the use of plastic containers.

Fuente: Elaboración propia
In table 3 it can be seen that people are aware of the environmental deterioration caused by inorganic waste; The problem, however, is that even knowing this situation, it seems that in everyday life they do not apply that knowledge. This shows that the campaigns carried out through traditional or digital communication media are insufficient. Therefore, a special contribution from the school, the companies that generate this waste and the family is necessary to change these pollution habits.
In question number 4, the interviewees were asked if they would be willing to use edible cups made with environmentally friendly materials on a recurring basis. Table 4 shows that the majority are willing to make the change.
• Shrimp and silk disposable cups: It is a biokinetic material that takes the design and components of the shrimp shell and the silk proteins.
• Potatoes to produce plastic: It is basically a composite resin that when compressed from heat and pressure looks like plastic.
• Gelatin that is extracted from bones and skin of animals.
In question number 5, the most interesting data were obtained regarding the number of people who know the time in which a disposable plastic cup can degrade ( Finally, question number 6 focused on knowing whether people knew how difficultto-break inorganic wastes such as plastic should be treated (table 6).

Destino del vaso que se ha utilizado # personas (encuesta 1)
# personas (encuesta 2) Se colocan separados con todo el plástico 20 240 Se colocan en la basura mezclada con la basura orgánica 9 72 Se arrojan en cualquier lugar 2 33 Fuente: Elaboración propia Based on the data collected in the previous question, it can be said, in general, that the younger generations who attend universities are more aware of the way in which plastic cups made with petroleum derivatives should be disposed of. While it is true that metropolitan areas there is a regulation regarding the separation of garbage by type, most people who live in other areas do not perform this classification.

Discussion
One of the main problems worldwide is the high impact of the use of materials made with plastic, especially those that are used only once. This is evident in the garbage island located in the Pacific Ocean, which is three times the size of France. For this reason, actions must be taken to change this reality, for which it is essential that biodegradable products begin to be used.
Although in many cities there are programs that promote the separation of garbage according to its type, reality shows that these recommendations are not followed in most localities. Furthermore, in many cases when waste that has already been classified by people reaches garbage trucks or landfills, it is again regrouped without following any differentiation criteria.
In summary, it can be stated that in our country people must be reeducated, for which the strategy of making them see that many of these wastes can generate income due to the possibilities of being reused either as raw material for other products or as compost or part of animal feed (in the case of biodegradable waste).

Conclusions
Due to the increase in polluting materials, different environmental programs have been established. In this research, it was very clearly established that people are willing to change their habits to adapt to the new demands of a more habitable world. To do this, one option would be the use of edible cups made with gelatin, but this initiative must be accompanied by policies and financing that help industries adopt these methods.
Likewise, courses and workshops should be promoted to educate people about the serious problem that inorganic waste is generating, which will probably cause damage that may be irreversible in a few years. With this training for the general public, they will be complying with the programs that the UN started to raise awareness among nations about the causes of climate change.
In this sense, agreements will have to be established with supermarkets, convenience stores and groceries so that they avoid selling products made from petroleum derivatives, and begin to replace them with others that are more environmentally friendly.
Of course, in the specific case of Arandas -which is located in the Altos de Jalisco region-, it must be taken into consideration that in this locality there are a large number of manufacturing plants for disposable products, which generate a large percentage of jobs.
Therefore, strenuous work must be done that, at the suggestion of some interviewees, has to be led by specialists from universities, since they are the ones who have the necessary knowledge to reverse the damage caused to the environment.