The initiative is part of the “Costa Rica Green and Clean” Program and the efforts of the Ocean Conservancy group, which promotes the World Day of Clean Coast and River. The volunteers and leaders of the organization Terra Nostra collected and classified about 2,400 Kilos of waste.
Collecting polluting plastics
Of the collected, 70% was garbage carried to the sanitary filling areas by the Municipality of Garabito. The remaining 30% was composed of recoverable waste, transported by Planet Mission to the Garabito Collection Center.
The Journey took place along almost 3 Kilometers of the Guacalillo Beach, in the margin of the mouth of the Tárcoles River. Participated several institutions such as the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Culture and Youth; the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers; the Costa Rican Tourism Institute and the Red Cross, as well as private companies.
Also collaborated members of the Gulf Network, an organization that unites communities from the interior of the Gulf of Nicoya.
The collection shows once again the great amount of trash that the rivers drag, as it is the case of the Virilla River, from the Greater Metropolitan Area, until arriving at the Tarcoles River, that empties in the Central Pacific. The pollution affects several beaches especially Guacalillo and Playa Azul, and the islands of the Gulf of Nicoya.
Poor waste management not only impacts coastal marine biodiversity, landscape, and water bodies, but also human health and tourism.
“Costa Rica Green and Clean” Program
Law 8839 obliges to maintain an adequate waste management, but there is a great breach. Other groups of volunteers organizing workshops in other sectors of the country.
Amigos del Rio Torres organizes the cleaning day in the Parque México sector on Saturday, September 30, next to the Children’s Museum and in the community of Cipreses, in Barrio Mexico.
The company Alimentos Pro Salud, which will clean the beach of the central canton of Puntarenas, on October 20th.
The Association Yisky will clean the beach of the Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge, in the South Caribbean.
