The Biomaya initiative presented the project to transform sargassum into staple products, in which two Mayan communities will participate, whose inhabitants will receive financial support.
Erik Parker, a pioneer of the initiative, announced that they will transform sargassum into soap, construction material, and cosmetics.
He explained that they will occupy the sargassum that lands on the coast of the municipality of Solidaridad, where in recent years the excessive arrival of the algae has caused severe economic problems due to the negative impact on the environment and also on the tourism industry.
The initiative will support two Maya rural communities, where they will employ women housewives, who will be in charge of transforming the algae into different products. The Nueva Esperanza and Sacab Mukul communities will participate in the project, both in the state of Quintana Roo.
The private initiative and educational institutions, such as the Playacar University Technology, will participate in the project too.
Federica Florenza, operational director of Biomaya, mentioned that one of the objectives of the project is to remove the sargassum and use it to some advantage for the Maya people of Quintana Roo.
“We are working with the Morelia biological chemical center, which has given us the results of the good parts that the algae have and they have told us how to eliminate the negative heavy metals and make good use of the seaweed,” Florenza explained.
She mentioned that the products they will make are safe because they have carried out an extensive study of the composition of the algae and the ways to take advantage of it as a natural resource.
“The sulfuric acid begins to come out when the sargassum is decomposing, now while the algae are alive it has many properties, the marine plant has these metals because on its way from Brazil to the Mexican Caribbean it is contaminated by ship waste,” Florenza added.
She invited the population and those interested in participating in the program, to follow the initiative on their social networks with the name of the project, also on Biomaya.mx
