30+ Tons of Trash Vanished from Cenotes!

Heyden Cervantes Quijano, the head of the Department of Environmental Management and Policy at the Benito Juárez Ecology Directorate, has announced the successful completion of the Urban Cenotes Cleaning Program. Over the course of 2024, the program conducted 25 cleaning sessions, resulting in the removal of a staggering 33.16 tons of trash. Some of the cenotes were cleaned for the first time, while others required two visits due to the excessive amount of waste left by visitors.

The cleanup effort was extensive, dealing with common waste items such as aluminum cans, PET, glass containers, diapers, and plastic bags. However, the team also had to remove larger items like refrigerators, toilets, tires, sofas, containers, styrofoam products, microwave ovens, furniture, washing machines, car parts, and debris.

The cenotes most impacted by litter were those located next to the municipal detention center (El Torito) in region 247. Here, 14 tons of trash were removed on the first visit and an additional 1.3 tons on the second. Other heavily affected cenotes included the one at the curve of the friars in Rancho Viejo, where 8.3 tons were cleared, a cenote in region 100 with 1.5 tons of trash, and another in region 216 with a ton of waste.

In addition to the cleanup, the program also included environmental awareness talks and workshops for local residents. The aim was to educate the community about the importance of keeping these bodies of water clean and preventing further littering. The cleanup sessions, which lasted about two and a half hours each, were not only staffed by program employees but also volunteers, local residents, and members of the Mexican army and navy.