Volunteers collected 67,000 pounds of trash last Saturday at 197 coastal sites around Puerto Rico as part of the 2024 International Coastal Cleanup, organized by the nonprofit Scuba Dogs Society.
Some of the most common items collected included cigarette butts, bottles, bottle caps, straws and foam (polystyrene) objects, said Scuba Dogs Society executive director María Ocasio Torres.
In addition to the cleanup, the initiative also sought to educate participants about Ley 51 of 2022, which prohibits the sale and distribution of single-use plastics and took effect last July 1. The law, according to its statement of purpose, "seeks to protect the planet from plastic pollution, a problem that worsens climate change and accelerates the loss of species."
"Plastic does not biodegrade. What it does is break apart into tiny pieces, and those tiny pieces, which are now micro- or nanoplastics, are entering our bodies," Ocasio Torres explained.
"We are educating people to prevent those plastics from ending up affecting us as well, and so that we eventually don't have to find them in our ecosystems and in our coastal cleanups."
The cleanup took place at beaches and rivers in 54 municipalities, and Scuba Dogs Society worked with local town administrations to dispose of the trash properly, Ocasio Torres said.
In total, about 4,109 people participated in the cleanup event, with the support of 202 captains who guided volunteers through the data-collection process, said Sandra Schleier, programs coordinator at Scuba Dogs Society.
"Over the last ten years, we have seen how the trash has changed. We are seeing less weight but a greater number of items. This is because the majority of the trash is these single-use plastics," Schleier pointed out, adding that the data the organization has gathered on coastal waste served as a basis for the development of Ley 51.
In 2023, volunteers collected 184,768 pounds of trash on Puerto Rico's coasts, according to a report by Ocean Conservancy, an organization focused on marine conservation. The waste collected included 27,315 plastic bottles, 28,383 bottle caps and 37,649 cigarette butts.
In Puerto Rico, plastic makes up 17% of landfill waste, according to the most recent solid-waste characterization study.
The International Coastal Cleanup, coordinated by Ocean Conservancy, takes place annually on the third Saturday of September around the world, according to Scuba Dogs Society, which has organized the event in Puerto Rico since 2002.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
