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Turtles with pieces of plastic in their bodies, sea lions trapped in fishing nets and a hermit crab that changed its shell for a plastic shell. This is the most visible postcard of how the monster of plastic pollution affects the Galapagos Islands. More than 1,000 kilometers from the archipelago, on the San Pedro River, in Quito, a barrier 15 meters long and 60 centimeters deep prevents parts of cars, computers, bags and plastic bottles from sailing through the main rivers of Ecuador until they are transported by marine currents to the Pacific Ocean and, finally, to the Galapagos.
The floating barrier that crosses the river from end to end prevents waste from moving with the flow and directs it towards the shore. It is connected to a mobile belt, which transports the plastics to a metal basket, where the waste that people throw into the city’s streams is deposited. This simple and methodical technology is the Azure system. It was developed seven years ago by the Ecuadorian Inty Grønneberg, CEO of Ichthiona technology startup specialized in eliminating and preventing plastic pollution in rivers.
Grønneberg’s project goes beyond collecting waste: it focuses on solving the problem. “It is not just installing the machine in the river and extracting plastic. We analyze the material we collect and, based on that, we detect the origin of the contamination to carry out cleaning interventions,” says the 40-year-old inventor. The next thing is to create targeted campaigns by sectors and work with grassroots recyclers to raise awareness and prevent pollution from advancing into the ocean. In 2023 alone, the San Pedro River Azure system has removed 10 tons of waste.
With the collection, the process does not end. The material is classified, photographed and, with the help of artificial intelligence, cataloged by the type of plastic. But José Carlos Pérez, senior engineer and developer of the artificial intelligence classification system, assures that they are working on improving the system: “We are testing and moving forward with the implementation of a video camera, which will be on the mobile band, and will be able to identify the material while it is collected.”
A pile of scraps of fabric, plastic containers and car parts rest on an open field. They were all collected from the San Pedro River. “This waste is from the month,” says Juan Bedoya, the operator in charge of classifying the material. But with the rain, the amount of garbage increases: “When the flow is very strong, everything rises and I have to direct the waste towards the side. They bring down textiles, bottles, everything,” says Bedoya as he prepares, with his boots, gloves and yellow overalls, to go down to the river. The night before was rainy and plastic has accumulated on the barrier.
Return dignity to its inhabitants
“Much of the waste in the San Pedro River comes from illegal discharges in rural areas, where there is no good waste collection system, and from invasions, which will never have a waste management service,” says Grønneberg. There are impoverished areas such as those near the Guayas River – on the Ecuadorian coast – where their inhabitants survive in the midst of waste and pollution in the absence of a collection system. It is told by Grønneberg, a mechanical engineer, who found his interest in environmental issues when he was pursuing his PhD in Innovation Ecosystems at Imperial College London. This scientist wondered how a region as megadiverse as Latin America and Ecuador does not commit to a new development model: “I realized that a fundamental aspect is sustainable development and that this region should even lead it, but it does not happen.”
A row of plastic bottles and caps float in the San Pedro River in Quito. The floating barrier does its job and you can see the difference. The water that runs after the barrier no longer advances loaded with garbage. The change has been drastic, highlights the co-founder of Ichthion and vice president of strategic relations, Yessica Benavides. “When they intervened in the river, the amount of waste was very high,” she acknowledges. Benavides remembers that, when they were just starting the project, they made a minga of three hours, volunteer work together with students, activists and residents of the area, and they collected 1.5 tons of waste. Now, she says proudly, they collect 500 kilograms.
But the Azure system of the San Pedro is not the only one: three others are added to it in the Tajamar River, in the Carchi; the Portoviejo and Charapotó rivers, in the coastal province of Manabí. It is estimated that 80% of Plastic that reaches the oceans comes from the coasts. But, furthermore, Benavides adds, the objective is not to industrialize the river and extract the greatest amount of waste. “We are interested in recovering the rivers, so that the people who live in those places and live off those rivers, who fish and carry out their daily activities, can live with dignity. “That moves us,” he says.
The journey of plastic garbage begins in the ravines, continues through the San Pedro to the Guayllabamba River, travels through the Esmeraldas until it reaches the Ocean and, finally, to the Galapagos Islands. Pollution already has serious consequences in the archipelago: 52 species have ingested or become entangled in plastics. A study published in the scientific journal Frontiers shows that 20 of the affected species are endemic, that is, they live only in this place. Green turtles, marine iguanas, whale sharks, spiny-tailed mobulas, and medium finches are most at risk of serious harm.
Save the Galapagos Islands
The pollution in the Galapagos does not come from the island. 40% arrives from the continent by sea currents. It also comes from Peru and Chinese fishing vessels, which dump garbage on the high seas. The use of single-use plastics has been prohibited in the archipelago since 2018. And in Ecuador the law has been in force since 2020. Organic Law for the Rationalization, Reuse and Recycling of Single-Use Plasticsbut in practice it is not applied.
To solve the problem of pollution on the islands, Grønneberg created the Galapagos Protection Fund. Much of the work to save this area—declared a World Natural Heritage and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO—from plastic trash consists of replicating Grønneberg’s invention in some of Ecuador’s largest rivers: the Guayllabamba and the Guayas. All the capital’s rivers flow into the first and the second is one of the most polluted. The idea is to implement the Azure system in the Guayllabamba and in two of the rivers that feed the Guayas: the Daule and Babahoyo. “We are talking about three Azure systems, larger than the one in the San Pedro River,” he points out.
But in the Guayas, which is navigable and can be up to a kilometer wide, placing a barrier is not the option: “It is an adaptation, it is the Cyan system.” This is a design that resembles a floating container with cells, which prevent plastic waste from continuing with the current. “So that the container is not dragged by the river, it has an anchor, which allows it to move with the current. Then the material accumulates as the current arrives.” When the containers are full, a ship removes the waste and is free again.
“We want to demonstrate that by 2030 a 30% reduction in plastic going into the ocean is possible,” he says proudly. If there is no change in the pollution curve, says the scientist, the next thing is to endanger the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Protection Fund initiative reaches 13 million dollars. The financing, explains Yessica Benavides, will be divided into: five million from local companies, four from private and multilateral companies abroad and four from a campaign crowdfunding.
The Galapagos Protection Fund, says Grønneberg, is going to be carried out this year regarding the signing of the Global Plastics Treaty, one of the most ambitious bets in the fight to end plastic pollution worldwide. “With the implementation of the project we hope in six years to have reached the goal: recover the four water basins of the Daule River, Babahoyo, Guayas and Guayllabamba to save the Galapagos Islands. We cannot wait any longer,” highlights Benavides.
The time to mitigate the problem of plastic pollution and protect the Galapagos has an expiration date if quick measures are not taken. “The day a very large amount of garbage arrives, you destroy the ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands,” he maintains. “Without disruptive interventions, we probably won’t be able to combat plastic pollution. Hell is not made of fire: it is made of plastic,” concludes Grønneberg.
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