CIRCULAR BAY - COMMUNITY PLASTIC RECYCLING, MEXICO

#265 - BAHIA CIRCULAR - RECICLAJE COMUNITARIO DE PLASTICOS EN MEXICO

ABOUT

Bahía Circular is a network of non-profit communitarian organizations of waste collectors and recycling intermediaries that provide environmental services in the rapidly-growing touristic area of Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico. The member organizations are located in San Pancho, Sayulita, Lo de Marcos and Las Varas - all beautiful beach villages that have being affected by touristic activities and inefficient public waste management.

The network of Bahia Circular aims to generate better income for waste-pickers using Circular Credits and to improve their working conditions by providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Our objectives are to reduce plastic waste from the local ecosystem by creating a Circular Plastics Economy; build on community environmental education and collaborative recycling; and the use of digital tools such as CAH and Cirplus to have access to financial opportunities and improve the marketability of the material.

The operational waste flow in each village is different:

Sayulita and San Pancho have similar operations. First, they collect plastic, cardboard, and glass from the street recycling bins, hotels and restaurants. Additionally, the workers of these organizations have fixed salaries and PPE. Then, after they separate plastic from other waste in their collection center, the plastic is sent to an intermediary to be compacted and ready for recycling in Guadalajara. The monitoring method in both towns is based on weight receipts from a public digital scale.

Lo de Marcos has a special context due to the fact that their operation does not have employees. Expat Volunteers in their town collect plastic from pre-set substations that is then sent to an intermediary to be compacted and ready for recycling in Guadalajara. The monitoring method is based on weight receipts.

The organization in Las Varas is the intermediary for Sayulita and San Pancho. Additionally, this organization has also developed a social collecting system in 10 small surrounding rural villages where elderly people collect plastic waste as their source of income. This organization also collects plastic directly from the landfill. After the material is weighed in the landfill or in the collectors’ household, it is transported to be compacted and then sent to Guadalajara for recycling. The monitoring method is based on manual scale reporting and photographic evidence.

Our main activities include:

1. Organizing workshops and training for the network of recyclers to improve their safety measures and practices, as well as their quality of material and selling price.
2. Mapping operative waste flow.
3. Organizing beach clean-ups within the network.
4. Incorporating local touristic establishments (restaurants, hotels etc…) into promoting the reduction of single-use plastic and plastic recycling.

Contact our team for more information on how to support this project

USE OF PROCEEDS

100% for waste collectors - 30% to provide PPEs and 70% for direct income.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Entreamigos strives to achieve its mission to increase learning opportunities for children and families through the implementation of educational programs based on principles of integration and collective community action. We work to empower intellectual, creative and reflective capacities and to develop environmental and cultural consciousness.

Entreamigos focuses on education in all aspects of our organization.
We support learning and the development of new skills in our library with over 10,000 books available to the public; over 12 after-school classes weekly in art, sports, English and story time; our scholarship program to provide academic support to over 87 students in the local schools of elementary through college; our productivity workshops and our entrepreneur programs that empower women and adolescents by providing technical classes, vocational training and economic support. Entreamigos also actively works in outreach to other communities in the region and as an education center for visiting schools, community leaders and tourists.

Environment
Entreamigos values the incredible bio-diversity of the region that we live and plays an active role in the stewardship of our natural resources. Through community wide recycling programs, trash management programs, beach cleaning and tree planting projects – we support and care for our environment.
Entreamigos is committed to expanding our impact and has designed several education programs that teach sustainability and environmental stewardship to students across the region.

Community
Entreamigos commitment to the community is the foundation of all of the work that we do. We believe that a prepared community has tools to adapt to change, communicate peacefully and effectively and share resources in an equitable way. We believe that the children of our community must be the future leaders of our community and we are committed to building skills of leadership, entrepreneurship and sustainability in everything we do and everyone that we work with.