Playa del Carmen Removes Over 580 Kilograms of Marine Debris in Coastal Cleanup Initiative

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — The municipal government of Playa del Carmen has removed more than 580 kilograms of debris from the ocean floor as part of an ongoing initiative to protect marine ecosystems and preserve the area’s natural resources.

Mayor Estefania Mercado’s administration has been conducting underwater cleanup operations at various points along the local coastline since January. From January through March of this year, cleanup crews collected 580.05 kilograms of materials, including 109 kilograms of general trash, 46.5 kilograms of glass, 2.1 kilograms of PET plastic, 5.9 kilograms of aluminum, 170.7 kilograms of wood, 110.9 kilograms of iron, 11 kilograms of concrete, 0.1 kilograms of lead, 98 kilograms of rope, 3.7 kilograms of tile, and 11.65 kilograms of broken glass.

Recent cleanup efforts focused on Pelícanos and Cisne beaches, where divers removed various types of waste that threaten marine life.

Irving Lili Madrigal, director of the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat), explained that the Environmental Education team collected materials that don’t belong in the marine ecosystem during the operation. “Each object removed from the ocean floor represents a direct action in favor of reef conservation and the species that inhabit them,” Madrigal said.

At Pelícanos Beach, crews removed 3 kilograms of general trash, 1.5 kilograms of glass, 4 kilograms of wood, 5 kilograms of rope, 3 kilograms of iron, 0.1 kilograms of aluminum, and 0.5 kilograms of broken glass that posed a risk to marine fauna.

At Cisne Beach, they collected 26 kilograms of general trash, 6 kilograms of rope, 0.2 kilograms of aluminum, 0.3 kilograms of glass, 44 kilograms of metal, and 0.1 kilograms of broken glass.

Madrigal noted that these operations are part of the municipal government’s environmental strategy, which focuses on strengthening natural resource protection and promoting environmental awareness among residents.