The image of the Yucatecan coast is a responsibility of each and everyone and as representatives of the state administration, at the request of Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal, this weekend the Secretariat of Tourism Development (Sefotur) joined in cleaning the dock and areas nearby Chicxulub Puerto.
This initiative was convened by Lalo Negrete Cue and Miguel Sarlat Herrera from Ríos Limpios AC, supported by the Secretariat for Sustainable Development (SDS) and the Progreso City Council, with the aid of civil society, the Vive sin Basura collective, and Esmeralda Brewing.
This organization defines itself as leaders committed to generating measurable changes that improve the environment, proposing local actions that manage global changes in the matter of conservation, cleaning, and bioremediation of the basins of Mexico, with the support of people, neighborhood groups, associations, and institutions for the organization of permanent brigades and thus, achieve a better country for the following generations.
For the collection, the group of approximately 40 people, of which 20 belong to the Sefotur, met at the dock so that Lalo Negrete explained the importance of working not only in cleaning the coasts and rivers of Mexico but in raising awareness among people about the impact that pollution has on the planet.
During the talk, he also gave recommendations on health care and safety measures to avoid accidents. The participants received, from Ríos Limpios, latex and special gloves to avoid cutting themselves with any sharp material, as well as bags, antibacterial gel, and purified water to fill glasses and hydrate themselves during and after the work. Throughout the day, the teams used the mask to avoid contagion by Covid-19.
For about three hours, the people divided into two groups for an area of up to six blocks on each side of the pier, where they checked not only the beach but also the access roads. During the work, all kinds of materials were found, from glass and plastic bottles, cans, tires, cloth, tarps, toothbrushes, cigarette butts, face masks, ropes that fishermen use to anchor their boats, Styrofoam, wood, and scraps of building materials, even dead animals and a refrigerator.
The styrofoam takes between 500 and 800 years to degrade, according to information from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), shared Lalo, who added that this polymer is one of the worst pollutants in the world since by heating it to more than 15 degrees produces substances that are harmful to the human body, while when it is used for food consumption and thrown near coasts and rivers, it causes severe damage to water and air, causing imbalances in ecosystems.
At the end of the day, about 400 kilograms of waste were collected, which were channeled to the Progreso cleaning system for safe treatment.
With this participation, Sefotur reinforces its commitment to tourism, with SDS initiatives and with organizations such as Ríos Limpios, since it will not only improve the image of the coasts and water areas of Yucatán, but this contributes to a better quality of families life.
Ríos Limpios will continue with the work of cleaning and raising awareness about the effects caused by the contamination of ecosystems, concerned about having a Mexico where children can safely play again in bodies of water, where the elderly can sit down to read a book on the shore, while the youth have healthy fun in the different channels, without being surrounded by garbage.
For more information about this organization and dates of waste collection, go to www.rioslimpios.org/.