Usually, it is rare for consumers to know where their waste ends when thrown in a trash bin at the curb. A disturbing video shared on Reddit’s r/anticonsumption forum shows the truth, and it is terrible. This video highlights the staggering amount of plastic bottles, waste and plastics that land on Guatemala’s beaches.
This small country of Central America, poor, Guatemala, has the image of other developing countries around the world, plays a significant role in ocean pollution due to plastics, mainly due to the lack of adequate infrastructure to manage the growth of their consumer economy.
It is sad to see that Guatemala has not implemented ineffective waste management programs.
Regulated water treatment programs and landfills are rare, resulting in the discharge of wastewater into waterways, which eventually flow into oceans and endanger critical habitats such as coral reefs.
It is mentioned in the
rapport of The Intercept, that in recent years, several internationally funded projects aimed at building new sanitation infrastructure in Guatemala, were put on hold due to possible scandals affecting the Guatemalan government.
In addition, the situation has become apocalyptic, as the United States continues each year to send hundreds of thousands of tons of waste to Latin American countries, including Guatemala, thus using the region as a kind of landfill, as
Latin American Post. pointed out.
This habit makes it more difficult, the situation of ocean pollution by plastics and poses serious threats to the environment and marine ecosystems, including vulnerable coral reefs.
Fortunately, a few initiatives are emerging, recently, an effort has been initiated to install bio-barriers in order to capture floating waste in waterways.
With very low means of edge, the creation of these plastic barriers is made from recycled plastic bottles and nets. Unfortunately, while this initiative is commendable, it has limitations in scale and still requires human intervention to remove captured debris.
The whole world, was deeply stunned by the images of the impressive amount of waste in the oceans.
Many have screamed their dismay at the over-consumption mentality that persists in our society, pointing out that the notion of “throwing something away” is misleading because there is no real place called “far” where waste disappears and ceases to disturb.
In fact, this waste creates an ecological catastrophe and kills our environment, whether it is plastic waste floating in the oceans or waste accumulation in landfills.
We must act and react to this reality so that we can rethink our approach to consumption and adopt more responsible practices in waste management, recycling and reducing our environmental footprint.
Watch this video
Floating garbage arrives on the coastline of Guatemala
byu/InundateTheIgnorant inDamnthatsinteresting
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