Sargassum to plates: Cancun hotels launch circular economy project

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Hotel and business leaders in Cancun and the Riviera Maya have announced a project to transform the region’s chronic sargassum problem into an industrial opportunity, aiming to create a market for products made from the seaweed and reduce the $150 million annual cost of beach cleanup.

The initiative, called Caribe Circular, seeks to make sargassum collection profitable by turning the algae into raw materials for a range of goods, from disposable tableware to bioplastics and bioenergy, according to a report by El Economista.

Ignacio Muñoz, director of The Seas We Love, said the project will start with biodegradable utensils and packaging for use in local hotels and restaurants. Planned products include plates, spoons, cutlery, packaging, and cardboard boxes.

The project is also negotiating an agreement with an international logistics company to incorporate at least 30% sargassum into boxes used for online shopping deliveries.

“We are building the market that makes it profitable to collect sargassum at sea, before it reaches the coast,” Muñoz said.

Currently, most of the algae removed from beaches ends up in landfills, despite the high operational cost of daily cleanup in tourist areas such as Cancun, Tulum, and Playa del Carmen.

Caribe Circular aims to create production chains linked to bioplastics, biomaterials, bio-agricultural inputs, bioenergy, and even dental materials.

More than 150 hotels and nearly 600 restaurants have already joined the project, including members of the Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council, the Mexican Association of Women Entrepreneurs, the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry, and the Riviera Maya Hotel Association. The initiative also coordinates with the Mexican Institute for Research in Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture.

The initial target is to valorize 150,000 tons of sargassum.

By the end of 2028, the sector aims to integrate over 1,180 hotels and more than 5,900 restaurants, generate around 3,500 jobs, and process up to 2 million tons of sargassum annually.

Toni Chaves, president of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association, said the tourism sector currently spends more than $150 million per year just on removing sargassum from beaches, with most of the collected material discarded.

With Caribe Circular, hoteliers hope to turn one of the region’s most persistent environmental problems into a new economic chain linked to sustainability, tourism, and industrial use of sargassum.