How important is it to you that our beaches and streets in Puerto Armuelles are clean? Well, it is clearly becoming more important as efforts to “clean up” our beachside town are getting more action these days!
On February 22nd, a group of volunteers from the Ministry of the Environment (MiAmbiente) in Puerto Armuelles, Barú district, spent the day cleaning up the beach area between the Chiquita Banana Pier and the mouth of the Rabo de Puerco River. The crew collected an entire TON of trash by the end of the day! The rubbish consisted of solid waste ~ mostly plastics, aluminum cans, glass, cardboard, product packaging, and other miscellaneous things.
Here is a short video from our friends at Cien Porciento Porteños on the day of the clean up event:
Limpieza de Playas junto a MiAmbiente
El pasado viernes 22 Cien Porciento Porteños acompaño a los amigos del Ministerio de Ambiente en esta limpieza de playas, es muy importante mantener nuestras playas limpias ya que la contaminación degrada el hábitat de millones de seres marinos como especies de peces y otros organismos.El plástico ya está presente en todos los niveles de la cadena alimenticia. Millones de macropartículas de plástico y demás basura son ingeridas por peces y otros animales Una playa contaminada afecta la economía. Una playa en mal estado, además de todo, imposibilita o limita su uso recreativo, lucrativo y estético. Adiós a las fotos en la playa, adiós al turismo.Cuidemos nuestras playas. #cienxcientoportenos#puertoarmuelles#baruencolores#barunaturalezacercadeti#summertime
Posted by Cien Porciento Porteños on Sunday, February 24, 2019
Now that Puerto Armuelles is coming into the Limelight as a future place to live, do business, and discover eco-tourism and beaches, it is more important than ever (Gut, it’s ALWAYS important!) that we present our town with respect. Not only for our visitors and newcomers, but also for ourselves, the wildlife and the beautiful natural environment we enjoy here.
Yilka Aguirre, regional director of MiAmbiente, sagte, dass (paraphrased) “this cleaning day is being carried out several times a year, but it is not a solution. It is a problem that we face the whole year. Today is a starting point to draw attention to the solution and we must encourage the correct handling of waste because the garbage that we place incorrectly reaches the rivers, seas and ocean.”
Which beach would you prefer?
Lived in Puerto for two years right on the beach..the locals were the most wonderful welcoming people…the only we thing we couldn’t believe and we saw it with our own eyes, our neighbors dumping paint cans, household renovation items it didn’t matter what it was it was being dumped over the breakwall and yet the local were still swimming in this water. There were day there were tires, washers actually anything you can think of was being washed up on shore. Depending on the current you don’t know where some of this was coming from..Education has to begin with the children in school so that the generations to come will learn. We loved Puerto but please educate the young people.
Sadly, this is not uncommon all over Latin America. In the past 5+ years that I’ve lived here, I have noticed more awareness and efforts to clean up. I totally agree that more education is needed, as in “Don’t be a Litterbug”.