Just north of Puerto Vallarta sits a small surfing town named Sayulita. It's a mix of wealthy gringoes, tourists and local fishers, living off the sea.
It's a typical, lazy-yet-exciting, Mexican village with one very atypical characteristic.
The folks in Sayulita have a public recycling program.
At just over a year old and started by a few expats from around the globe, the program has a long way to go before it is used correctly.
Bins line the streets and on any given day in the morning, a gas guzzling truck can be seen careering through the cobbled streets, with shirtless and open-toed show wearing workers spilling the mix of garbage and recyclables into the back.
The program is funded in part by the Punta de Mita Foundation, but most of the operating funds are collected from the sweaty brows of volunteers.
A bodega to sort the recycling has recently been built just outside of town, and now a compactor and scale have been purchased.
The program is gaining steam and is something we are very interested in.When we arrived in Sayulita for a 10-day vacation/recycling research project, we were fortunate to get to know the organizers and workers and discuss ways to help.
Aaron spent a morning riding around picking up recycling with the crew, but the work he did was more for the experience then to help with his labour.
Ramon, the owner of the recycling company, has been very interested in switching his vehicles to bio-diesel, so we facilitated a meeting with our local bio-diesel guru and good friend, Brian, who went to Sayulita a few months later.
The discussion has begun on how we can help bring recycling and bio-diesel to the hamlets of Mexico. Hopefully we will figure something out soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment