During the festivities of the Bicentennial of the Annexation, Playa Portero in Guanacaste was transformed into an accessible beach for people with disabilities, reduced mobility and older adults.
There are 33 meters of retractable walkways and an amphibious chair delivered by Las BuenasAccións Verdes de Monge in collaboration with the Costa Rican Accessible Tourism Network.
The accessible beach will be open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and will be managed by the Playa Potrero Ecological Blue Flag Committee.
Commitment to the environment and society
We are very happy to ratify the commitment to the environment and society with the sixth accessible beach that we delivered; and what better setting than the celebration of the 200 years of the Annexation. This Good Green Actions project has two purposes: reducing pollution and generating social impact. This initiative generates economic reactivation through accessible tourism, but the most rewarding thing is seeing the stories and how it impacts older adults or people with disabilities who manage to get to know the beach or return to the sea and feel the waves after many years.
Invitation opened
We invite you to continue bringing plastic lids to all the Monge in the country to continue transforming Costa Rica into an accessible destination for all people, said Carlos Fernández, director of the Monge Good Actions program.
Since 2021, more than 11 tons of plastic covers have been collected, with which more than 300 meters of walkways and six amphibious chairs were built and installed for six beaches in total: one in Playa Espadilla in Manuel Antonio, two in Puntarenas, one in Manzanillo in Limón, one in Playa Ventanas de Osa and the most recent in Playa Potrero in Guanacaste.
Organizations of people with disabilities from Guanacaste also participated in the inauguration and tested the implements
For the Costa Rican Accessible Tourism Network, each inauguration of an accessible beach is one more step towards achieving our goal, providing all beaches with at least one support tool for access to the sea. We all have the right to leisure and recreation. Donatapa is a country campaign that achieves not only this wonderful social but also environmental good, by transforming all these plastics into inclusion.
For the Playa Potrero Ecological Blue Flag Committee, it is vital to have these accessibility implements that drive the growth of tourists and residents. The campaign to collect plastic lids continues in the more than 200 Monge stores throughout the country, material that Monge transports to its distribution center, is consolidated and then the walkways and amphibious chairs paid for by Monge are manufactured.
Data on walkways and amphibious chairs
The amphibious chair supports a capacity of up to 90 kg. In addition, it comes with stainless steel screws, special canvas for saline waters, does not absorb moisture, weighs 26 kilos and is also made of recycled plastic. It is a national design created by the Costa Rican Accessible Tourism Network.
The walkways are modular in nature and can cover any surface, have high resistance and long useful life. Each cloth weighs 74 kilos and is 1.5 x 3 meters, for a total of 11 that make up the 33 meters located on Potrero de Guanacaste beach.To build this walkway and the amphibious chair, 1000 kilos of plastic covers were needed and the process cost US $6,300.
