7/27/2019 GVI Playa Del Carmen Monthly Achievement Report June 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/gvi-playa-del-carmen-monthly-achievement-report-june-2013 1/2

 

15/06/2013

Playa Del Carmen

GVI Participating in the environmental festival, supporting local and

global goals.

The UN declared the Millennium Development Goals constituting that countries must commit

to take further action and join forces in the fight against many of the problems facing

humanity including environmental degradation (1).

In Mexico every day 86,343 tons of domestic solid waste are discharged in landfills and open

dumps (2). Waste management has focused on the sole aspect of elimination, which has been

done through dumps, landfills and incinerators. These processes of elimination have been

ways to hide the waste problem without solving it whilst causing significant air, soil and water

pollution. Aside from the environmental degradation the health of those nearby is also being

affected from the pollution (3).

Local government of Playa del Carmen

estimated that 370 tons of waste is

generated per day, 80 percent is from the

city of Playa Del Carmen and 20 percent is

from the tourist corridor of Puerto

Aventuras, Akumal, Chemuyil and Tulum. In

holiday seasons it tends to increase up to

15 or 20 percent, yielding a daily average of 

420 tons (4).

There are numerous ways to raise

awareness on the importance of looking after our environment.

Here in Playa del Carmen an expo was held

by our local partners Flora, Fauna y Cultura

de Mexico at a local park called La Ceiba, to

raise environmental awareness, which was

an opportunity for different organizations to

showcase their ideas. GVI volunteers had an

incredible time raising awareness by making

“creative recyclables”. Our goal was to show

people different arts and crafts that can be

made from regular recyclable materials. EachGVI team member had their own unique skills and talents that were brought to the table.

Figure 1 Dump in Playa del Carmen

Figure 2 Environmental festival poster

7/27/2019 GVI Playa Del Carmen Monthly Achievement Report June 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/gvi-playa-del-carmen-monthly-achievement-report-june-2013 2/2

 Jewelry was made from old beer cans, necklaces from

paper beads, magnets out of old bottle caps and key

chains from wine corks. A 40cm tall tetrapack disco

ball/lamp shade was also created! The best thing about

the project was the time the volunteers spent workingtogether, teaching each other and laughing. At our stall

at Parque La Ceiba we generated a lot of interest, mostly

from the kids! We showed them how to make

EVERYTHING! Hopefully we planted little seeds of 

environmental awareness that will be taken home to

grow amongst family and friends. If our busy stall didn’t

keep us occupied, then the rest of the

expo did! There were stalls that made

life size paper mache sea animals, sold

plants, ran workshops, made jewelry

and much, much more. It was an

inspiring day that we will not forget

and feel lucky to have been a part of.

References 1. ONU. ONU Mexico. Los Objetivos del Desarrollo del Milenio. [En línea] [Citado el: 15 de Julio

de 2013.] http://www.onu.org.mx/objetivo7.html.

2. INEGI. Medio Ambiente. Cuèntame de Mèxico . Basura. [En línea] [Citado el: 15 de Julio de

2013.] http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/territorio/ambiente/basura.aspx?tema=T.

3. Greenpeace. Greenpeace Mèxico. Basura Cero. [En línea] [Citado el: 15 de Julio de 2013.]http://www.greenpeace.org/mexico/es/Campanas/Toxicos/basura-cero/.

4. Novedades de Quintana Roo. Ganan BJ y Solidaridad en generación de basura. [En línea] 19

de Febrero de 2007. [Citado el: 15 de Julio de 2013.]

http://www.novenet.com.mx/seccion.php?id=37385&sec=4&d=19&m=2&y=2007.

Figure 3 Volunteer showing how to make

beads with paper

Figure 4 Jewelry made by volunteers