Solid Waste Management Conference in Tulum
Good news from Tulum, our closest town to the expedition of Pez Maya!
For the 1st time, government officials, local organizations and NGOs, and waste management & recycling companies got together to discuss the best way to deal with waste management in this very new municipality.
The idea was to share experiences from other parts of the Peninsula of Yucatan and to analyse the vision and future plans from the local government.
During the presentation from the Tulum Urban Development and Ecology Department's Director, the recycling center build by GVI and our partners in 2006-7 was used as an example of how things should be done, and was announced that it was going to be revamped to be the official municipal recycling center! We want to Thanks all those volunteers who helped build this center and raised money for it, both via the GVI Charitable Trust and local donations.
We will be working closely with the municipality to make this a reality, so watch this space for future schemes - and of course, if you have any ideas or suggestions, drop us a line!
Another interesting talk was from the Director of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Francisco Ursua. Francisco talked about the problem caused by trash washed in by currents, and how difficult to deal with it is. As you all know, in both Pez Maya and Pta Gruesa we carry out a weekly beach clean up programme, and we are constantly amazed at the amount of rubbish, and
odd items, collected on a weekly bases!
The problem with this issue is that is not just a local problem, but a regional issue, as currents within the Caribbean sea move trash from one coast to another, so solving it means all countries agreeing on a strategy (not easy!!)
Still, we all need to be aware of this huge issue and reduce the amount of waste created, try to avoid the use of plastic bags and reduce the use of plastic bottles - just some of the ideas. GVI and particularly GVI Mexico is going to leading this change of mentality!
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