By impacting 200 beaches of the archipelago this Saturday, Scuba Dogs Society highlighted the diverse participation in its coastal cleanup annual event, in which fewer plastic bags were found than in previous editions, a fact that the nonprofit organization attributed to the positive impact of education on Law 51 of 2022which prohibits the use, sale and sale of plastics single use.
“When I compare it with previous years, the impact that plastic bags are no longer being used in Puerto Rico is definitely noticeable. Before, a lot was collected. The improvement has been seen in the bodies of water”, stressed the president of the Board of Directors of Scuba Dogs Society, Lara Montilla.
In its twenty-fifth edition, the volunteers of the International Coastal Cleanup 2026 They left, starting at 8:00 am, to hit 200 beaches, surpassing the 164 last year and 188 in 2024. At 12:00 pm, there were still captains of the entity collecting solid waste and collecting data on the type of materials that were taken from the coasts.
“We saw much more participation and a diversity in the people who came. We could say that Puerto Rico went out to clean the beaches today. We had 200 beaches and we understand that we fulfilled that around Puerto Rico, including Vieques and Culebra“Montilla celebrated.
On her tour of some of the impacted beaches, the leader of the Scuba Dogs Society mentioned that they collected large items such as car parts, refrigerators and used tires, and other more common items such as cigarette butts and glass bottles.
Between 2002 and 2023, Scuba Dogs Society totaled 3.3 million pounds of waste removed, with the support of hundreds of thousands of volunteers, in 50 municipalities. According to the 2024 organization reportThat year alone, 9,000 volunteers removed more than 80,000 pounds of trash.
For several years now, the entity’s team has educated citizens about Law 51, which established the prohibition of the use, sale and sale of single-use plastics in Puerto Rico.
However, a statute –signed last year– postponed the entry into force of the penalties of Law 51, until January 1, 2027. And, beyond that postponement, a projectfrom the senator Gregorio Matiaswhich would repeal both Law 51 and Law 247 of 2015which forces businesses to charge for the use of plastic bags.
The event organized by Scuba Dogs Society is part of the global cleanup under Ocean Conservancywhich chooses the third Saturday in September, coinciding with the peak of the hurricane season in Puerto Rico. The archipelago is among the top 20 countries with the highest participation since 2002.
“We are seeing less garbage on the beaches, mainly on the most touristy ones, but we are beginning to see it in other bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes. We are no longer limited to just the coast“said Montilla, who highlighted that this year volunteers joined in diving and kayaking to collect trash at points such as the Condado Lagoon.
Beyond the regular environmental volunteers and teenagers doing their green contact hours, Montilla highlighted the arrival of students, professionals and organizations with different backgrounds who, in some cases, crossed several towns to impact beaches, such as some young people from Cayey who moved to Loiza.
“I am surprised by the number of people and the diversity of the volunteers. There was a group of young people studying Biology on their way to Premedical, from the Cayey area, who organized themselves and chose a beach in Loíza. On a personal level, I am very happy because I saw different groups of people. They were not the same. “We are raising awareness, because they don’t just come for the green hours.”he emphasized.
This edition, which had the motto “Latimos for a better Puerto Rico,” coincided with the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development 2026proclaimed by the United Nations Organization to recognize the contribution of millions of volunteers throughout the world to the well-being of their communities and sustainable development.