Recent efforts to clean up 'Las Vacas' river, one of the most polluted rivers worldwide

About 20 thousand tons of plastic flowed in the river per year. Solely this river contributed 2% of the total plastics in the oceans.

Diana Butron

It all starts at the ‘Zona 3’ landfill at the edge of Guatemala City which is also the start of the river 'Las Vacas'. When it rains, part of the trash flows off the landfill into the river. In addition, there's poor communities along the river with no waste management services and they deposit their waste into the river. Furthermore, there’s illegal dumping happening. The waste arrives at the hydropower plant in which during flash floods the water and waste overtops the damn and continues its way up to the Motagua river and finally makes it to the Caribbean sea. The river Las Vacas is considered the main drainage system of the city.

  

 

The social project ‘BiosferaGT’ started in 2021 from the need to clean the river Las Vacas basins. This river was considered by The Ocean Clean Up the most polluted world-wide, even more so than the ones in Asia. It became a problem that crossed borders; Guatemala was about to get sued by Honduras.

In 2022, BiosferaGT, managed to recuperate over 300 tons of waste from the river. They managed this by installing something they called ‘biobarda’ or bio-fence. This fence separates the plastic trash from the flow of the river. At the beginning of 2023 only two bio-fences were installed.

 

In 2022, ‘The Ocean CleanUp’, in its first attempt to halt seasonal tsunamis of trash, installed the Interceptor Trashfence. This fence was designed with avalanche experts and worked similarly to the fences used for avalanches and rockslides. They believed it could contain the thousands of tons of waste carried by the river. Unfortunately, this first attempt didn’t work. Once the trash met the fence, the water flow was blocked more than they had anticipated. Then the water was forced downwards causing erosion in the riverbed.  Ultimately the fence gave away.

After learning from the 2022 attempt, in 2023, The Ocean Clean Up, BiosferaGT and other collaborators, installed the ‘006: Interceptor Barricade’. This system of two extremely heavy-duty floating booms was placed on the river effectively capturing plastic while allowing the water to flow underneath. The booms are anchored to two concrete foundations on the riverbank on dry land to avoid erosion. The first boom is placed upstream with a length of 51 m catching most of the waste flow. The second boom placed downstream with 107 m catches anything the first boom could not catch.

 

  

After the trash is intercepted, it is removed from the river using excavators on the shore and weighted on-site. Then the waste is handed over to local partners and waste management authorities.

   

One of the local partners is the NGO BiosferaGT. In 2022 They have set up a waste sorting center staffed by members of the community. This was a trial for recycling operations and if proven successful it could be scaled up.

By May 2024 BiosferaGT plant in San Antonio Las Flores had already received 3.1 million pounds (1.4 million kg) of waste. Only 10% of all the extracted waste can be sorted for reuse. The sorting plant employs 34 full time workers and 75 seasonal workers. From the sorted plastic only 2% is useful for transformation. BiosferaGT transforms this plastic into plastic lumber for construction, benches, tables and trash cans. Wood, glass and scrap with commercial value are the 1.5% of the total materials. Close to 90% of the recuperated waste is transported back to the Zona 3 – Landfill.

A current video (in german) about the situation in 'Las Vacas' river can be found here. 

Note: All pictures used in this article were taken from The Ocean Cleanup.

References

Domínguez A. and Pérez Marroquín C. (7 June 2022), "Con toneladas de basura en sus aguas, el río Las Vacas es uno de los más contaminados del mundo, según The Ocean Cleanup”, Prensa Libre. https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/comunitario/con-toneladas-de-basura-en-sus-aguas-el-rio-las-vacas-es-uno-de-los-mas-contaminados-del-mundo-segun-the-ocean-cleanup/

The Ocean Cleanup. (16 May 2023), "Introducing the Interceptor Barricade: The Ocean Cleanup returns to Guatemala” The Ocean Cleanup. https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/introducing-the-interceptor-barricade-the-ocean-cleanup-returns-to-guatemala/

The Ocean Cleanup. (17 April 2024), "Will this be our biggest ever river catch?” The Ocean Cleanup. https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/the-ocean-cleanup-makes-biggest-ever-river-catch-in-guatemala/

Quartucci Soledad, (21 April, 2024) "Interceptor 006: Battling Plastic Pollution in Guatemala’s Rivers”. Latina Republic. https://latinarepublic.com/2024/04/21/interceptor-006-battling-plastic-pollution-in-guatemalas-rivers/

Redacción EFE. (15 January, 2023) "Biosferagt, el proyecto social que recuperó 300 toneladas de residuos en río Las Vacas”. Prensa libre. https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/comunitario/biosferagt-el-proyecto-social-que-recupero-300-toneladas-de-residuos-en-rio-las-vacas/

Weltspiegel (09, 2024) Müll-Flut: Kann dieser Fluss gerettet werden? Die Wahrheit über den Rio Las Vacas! Weltspiegel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqWZC9G40k4

Biosfera GT. (May 2024) "At Biosfera GT, we are on a mission to clean up our rivers, water bodies, and ecosystems from plastic pollution.” Biosfera GT https://www.linkedin.com/posts/biosferagt_cleantheworld-plasticfreefuture-biosferagtngo-activity-7193414191213412352-RaXW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop