Cancun, Q. R. — In a recent clean, volunteers report removing more than 200 kilos of garbage from the Nichupté lagoon in the Cancun Hotel Zone. Guillermo Herrera Quechol, who heads one of the organizations that participated, said more than 40 people showed up.
Those who helped clean the lagoon were from his organization, Pepenice and Parley for the Oceans, as well as from the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp), Go Kayak and the Port Authority.
During their one day clean of a two kilometer area, volunteers pulled 223 kilos of garbage from the lagoon, most of which, he said, was plastic.
“This is the first cleaning in the mangrove. It should be noted that in the other 10 brigades that have cleaned beaches and cenotes of the city, in each one, they removed between 100 and 200 kilos of waste. The same happened today. This year, we already have about a ton of waste collected,” he said.
Herrera said that fauna in the lagoon system is affected by the waste since they do not distinguish food from garbage. By eating garbage, animals can become sick from being poisoned by the compounds that make up the garbage they mistake as food.
The lagoon clean up was coordinated by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp). Removed from the lagoon were items that included styrofoam, glass, recyclable plastic bottles, aluminum cans, non-recyclable garbage and six fishing nets.
