Cancún, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo’s Environmental Protection Agency (PPA) is conducting inspections of major retail chains, hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, and convenience stores to ensure proper waste management, with penalties ranging from warnings to fines of up to 1 million pesos, according to PPA director Alonso Fernández Lemmen Meyer.
Fernández explained that due to the large number of establishments, the agency’s strategy is to work directly with companies to bring their waste management plans into compliance and reduce environmental impact.
“We are working with Six, which is in the process of regularization. We cannot visit all of its more than 1,000 branches, so we are dealing with the company directly,” he said.
The same approach applies to Cinépolis, pharmacies, tire shops, supermarkets, convenience stores, shopping centers, restaurants, and hotels.
The PPA has two distinct lines of action. The first focuses on large waste generators, verifying that they have proper management systems and traceability to ensure waste reaches an authorized final destination.
“What we check is that they can guarantee that their waste does not end up on the street or on abandoned land, but rather has an appropriate final destination,” Fernández said.
The second line concerns Extended Producer Responsibility, targeting companies that sell products whose end-of-life management poses environmental challenges, such as tires, household appliances, medicines, plastics, and glass.
Fernández acknowledged that some companies have shown willingness to replace polluting materials with more sustainable options, but others are lagging and require further inspections.
Penalties depend on the violations found. “There are companies without a management plan but with good practices, and others that have a plan but handle waste poorly. Fines can range from a warning to 1 million pesos,” he said.
Chains already inspected include Oxxo, 7-Eleven, Go Mart, Liverpool, Coppel, Elektra, Costco, and Chedraui, as well as hotels, cinemas, shopping centers, and tire shops.
Fernández noted that, unlike previous administrations, the current PPA has incorporated waste management and operating environmental license reviews into nearly all inspections, following instructions from Governor Mara Lezama to strengthen environmental protection in the state.
