Motagua River: Guatemala uses bio-fences to try to stop pollution
No one wants to take care of their neighbor's trash. In the case of the Motagua River, the conflict is escalating at the international level between Guatemala and Honduras.
In the case of the Motagua River, the conflict is escalating to an international level. The presidential administrations of Honduras and Guatemala have been searching for years for a solution to the debris floating downstream to the Honduran shores. But according to those affected, the presidents who have come and gone from both countries for more than a decade have made little more than empty promises. The conflict has resulted in measures such as the construction of fences along the river, also called Bio-fences, to try to stop the flow of waste into the sea.
The Motagua River, one of the main tributaries of Guatemala and Honduras, is seen next to the main plant of the Floating Solid Waste Retention System of the Guatemalan Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), in the village of El Quetzalito, in Izabal . Photo: Donny Stewart
In the main plant of the Floating Solid Waste Retention System there are articulated arms, which are the ones that must retain the residual contamination that the Motagua River drags along on its way through the north and northeast of Guatemala. Photo: Donny Stewart
Personnel from the Guatemalan Ministry of Environment, and inhabitants of the village of El Quetzalito, work on the removal of solid waste that floats in the Motagua River. These wastes are then taken to the system's main recycling plant, to be converted into material that will be used in construction or the production of common and everyday objects. Photo: Donny Stewart
Once on land, the waste is organized and classified before being broken up and shredded into chips. This material can be used for the construction or elaboration of objects such as desks for the educational system of the country or in the construction of highways, since it can be mixed with asphalt and save costs in the production of asphalt. Photo: Donny Stewart
Despite the operation of this waste treatment plant, which contributes to cleaning the Motagua, the residual plastic contamination is excessive, and it is dragged into the Atlantic Ocean and the Omoa Bay, in Honduras. Photo: Donny Stewart
Despite the operation of this waste treatment plant, which contributes to cleaning the Motagua, the residual plastic contamination is excessive, and it is dragged into the Atlantic Ocean and the Omoa Bay, in Honduras. Photo: Donny Stewart
The garbage crisis in The Motagua River has caused a series of diplomatic incidents between the Central American nations. Honduras complains that Guatemala does not do enough nor is it necessary to contain the pollution that the Motagua River carries into the Atlantic Ocean. Photo: Donny Stewart
To prevent the diplomacy between Guatemala and Honduras from entering into crisis, the Guatemalan government, through its Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, organizes, together with that of Honduras, clean-up days for the Omoa beaches. Photo: Donny Stewart
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