Hundreds of volunteers, including students from some 13 public and private schools, arrived this Sunday morning at Puente Herrera beach, in Rio Grandefor the 18th edition of the Annual Beach Cleanup of the Alma de Bahía Foundation.
Tires from cars, mattresses, chairs, umbrellas and many cans are part of the waste that the volunteers collected on both sides of the mouth of the Herrera River, between Loiza and Río Grande, detailed the president of the Alma de Bahía Foundation, Rolando Padua.
“The reality is that a lot of garbage was collected, and that means that there is still a lot of work to do, to educate the different communities and people who throw garbage on the beach or in the river. It is an issue that we have to continue addressing,” said Padua, who is the co-CEO (executive co-president) of Paulson Puerto Rico.
At the time of this publication, the organization had not finished weighing the amount of trash removed from the beach. However, They preliminarily estimated that it would be less than the 4,000 pounds collected in past years.
“Still, unfortunately, we continue to find rubber bands, chairs and furniture that are thrown into the rivers, and the water brings them in. At this time, this is important for us because we are right in the middle of the nesting season (for sea turtles) that begins in February and lasts until August,” said Padua, highlighting that waste on the coasts becomes threats both for the turtles that enter the beach to lay their eggs, and then for the little turtles that must find their way to the sea.
“There is everything here (type of garbage), and This type of initiative must be found to be able to replicate it on more and more beaches because, at the end of the day, what it is doing is reaching the sea and harming all types of species: manatees, dolphins, whales.. We are on the right track, over the years, this is my eighth cleanup since I have been president and I can tell you that it is one of the moments when we have found the least trash,” he said.
Padua specified that, this season, they have identified seven turtle nests on Puente Herrera beach, between the mouth of the Herrera River and the Espiritu Santo River.
“To the extent that we can address the issue of garbage in this area… Over the past few years, in coordination with the Department of Natural (and Environmental) Resources, we have adopted this side of the beach, so the protocols allow us to clean, collect, and do this type of beach cleaning, which has been done for 18 years,” he said.
The executive director of the Foundation, Marcela Canon Escobarestimated that between 280 and 300 people participated in the event. In addition to students, employees from the companies under the Paulson Puerto Rico portfolio gathered, including Four Seasons Resort, the hotels under Condado Collection, the executive offices of Paulson and the Gómez Hermanos Paulson dealership, Padua noted.
The beach cleanup is part of an environmental campaign by the Alma de Bahía Foundation that seeks not only to promote environmental conservation, but also the education of communities, Padua emphasized.
This year, the campaign is called “From here to the planet” and seeks to highlight the importance that Puerto Rico has in the protection and conservation of the environment worldwide, Cañón Escobar explained.
“What the campaign seeks is to show the contribution of Puerto Rico, which is a gigantic contribution of the entire archipelago, to planet Earth, from the point of view of ecological and environmental processes, biological issues, migrations and also cultural contribution. How Puerto Rico does a great job for planet Earth,” said Cañón Escobar.
The Foundation, throughout the year, provides guidance to schools in Río Grande, Loíza and the metropolitan area. Padua pointed out that they use information from the garbage collected on the beaches – such as the types of waste that are most thrown away – to design orientation campaigns.
Cañón Escobar indicated that the Pedro Falú Orellana school, in Río Grande, was recognized for bringing more than 100 volunteers to the cleanup. The team won a prize of $1,000, Padua explained.