Thousands of volunteers lined nearly 200 beaches on the coast of Puerto Rico on Saturday to take part in the international coastal cleanup event in which 120 countries around the world participated, managing to recover thousands of pounds of trash, an exercise that also served to raise awareness about the entry into force of the ban on the use of single-use plastics, highlighted Alberto Martí Ruiz, member of the Board of Directors of the Scuba Dogs Society organization.
“You actively involve people in an experience like the international coastal cleanup, unlike giving a talk or doing a workshop or publishing a report, living that experience achieves a tangible change in each of the people who are participating.”said Martí Ruiz, speaking about the effect that participation in these types of events has on the creation of new leaders and spokespersons who, beyond cleaning on a specific day, become protectors of the environment who carry the message and the example to other people.
“In this case we had close to 200 capitals. You have people who are adopting and assuming a much greater level of responsibility,” he said.
Although the numbers are preliminary, data from 79 beaches out of a total of 192 where there were teams of volunteers, already indicated that at least 47,835 pounds of trash had been collected, with the participation of at least 4,109 volunteers, reported through the Clean Swell app, which due to technical problems did not have the final data on Sunday.
The president also highlighted the high participation of young people in the beach clean-ups. “There is a commitment and a real demonstration of love for our country and of really being present, especially the youth. Nearly 80% of the participants are young people who give us a great sense of pride and a sense of hope,” he said. “We are on the right path, but there is still a long way to go. We hope that the Puerto Rican community can continue to raise awareness and actively participate in these solutions.”
“The goal is to reduce the amount of waste,” stressed Martí Ruiz. “Every year we have more people and less waste, which does not necessarily mean less quantity of items, what happens is that the constitution, the characteristics, have changed. We are seeing more plastics and microplastics of all kinds,” he explained.
The leader stressed that data from recent years show that six out of 10 pieces of waste found in all clean-ups are derived from plastics, including cigarette butts, which also have derivatives.
“This is far from being resolved. We have a serious problem of climate change caused by human behavior and plastic is one of the factors, it is being misused,” he said, recalling that there is a large amount of plastic that can be reused in various ways, instead of ending up on beaches and in landfills. “That is where it is causing serious damage,” he stressed.
Martí Ruiz highlighted that during all the clean-ups on Saturday, a talk was offered on Law 51 of 2022, which prohibits the use and sale of single-use plastics as a measure to avoid their environmental and public health impact. This measure came into force on July 1 of this year.
“In our case, when I asked who knew about Law 51, not a single person raised their hand. People don’t know that this law has already been put into effect,” Martí Ruiz said, highlighting the need for educational campaigns on the new measure.
Although the law is already in effect, during the first six months of its validity there is a grace period in which businesses will not be fined, but rather advised about the measure. Once the violation notification period ends on December 31, starting January 1, 2025, fines will be $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the second and $5,000 for the third.