Establishing a Recycling Centre in Mexico

Dear Supporter,

You may be wondering why, out of all the communities on the Yucatan coastline, we are working in the village of Punta Allen. Punta Allen (officially Javier Rojo Gómez) is the largest village in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a small Mayan fishing village with a 2010 census population of 469 inhabitants, and the only land access is by a rough 50 kilometre track.

According to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation podcast, Punta Allen is “the town that lobster built”. 70 per cent of Mexican lobsters originate there. At word was a lobsterman called Charley, complaining about tons of plastic in the waters. And there you have it, there is a serious problem with pollution.

The beach is not groomed, and is littered with garbage brought in by the waves. Most of this garbage is said to come from cruise ships and other Caribbean countries with open land fills. Every time a hurricane passes it picks up the garbage and deposits it in the sea, to be left till it makes its way to one of the beaches.

We go to Punta Allen for various reasons but by participating in beach clean ups and supporting in the investment of a recycling centre, we can help try and prevent the pollution issues in the region. 

Thank you for your continual support of this project this year.

All the best

Sophie Birkett

Links:

• http://www.gvi.org

Dear supporter,

The recycling centre construction work continues! Recent donations have been used to build three compost containers and another part of the main structure as well as the wages for the builders.

As we mentioned in our last report, plastic bottles were filled with sand that the community prepared, three compost containers were built instead of using bricks.  These containers will facilitate the management of the compost in the centre as they used to use the compost bins with metallic mesh and tarps.

Despite being a remote beach in southern Mexico, Pez Maya is covered with trash that has travelled through the Caribbean from both nearby and far flung locations.In the past month, the team at Pez Maya has cleaned 700metres of our beach. We have collected well over 150kg of non-recyclable trash, about 20kg of recyclable plastic and approximately 25kg of glass and metal. This recycling centre will help to utilise these materials that wash up on their beach.

Also, another part of the main structure was built, to leave it ready to put on a roof with the following funds. This structure will be used to store the recycling and protect it from the sun, rain, wind and with the support of people like you, should hopefully be completed soon!

Thank you as always for your support

Sophie Birkett

Charitable Trust manager

Links:

• http://www.gvi.org