We all know how exceedingly fortunate we are to live in or visit such a diverse and stunning place as Costa Rica. So we go to the beach to enjoy. We drink some bottled water, a few sodas and perhaps more than a few beers.
We aren’t barbarians. We all take the bottles to a trash can or back to the hotel. But we generally leave them where we vacation, along with sunscreen bottles and whatever other waste we produce.
Completely normal behavior but when multiplied by millions of tourists we have to ask, where does all that waste go?
The small towns that host us have been forced to deal with the influx of waste from tourism, often without municipal experience or proper funding. Many tourists and residents want to participate in recycling and other sustainable practices but there are no well-organized and publicized systems in place.
But doesn’t Costa Rica have waste management laws, you may be asking? Yes, the Integrated Waste Management Law, No. 8839, was passed in 2010 and requires all municipalities to formulate and enact waste management and recycling plans.
Nearly all 81 cantons now have such plans, but many face difficulties executing them. Vacation hotspots face greater challenges, as many are located in isolated areas, with more tourists than local residents, but not included in municipal waste management plans.
Others have very basic strategies, such as once-a-month recycling drop-off points, which many people cannot participate in due to transportation or time constraints.
Though we should expect more, that is the reality of waste management in Costa Rica. If we want to see improvements, we will have to take it upon ourselves to facilitate change.
I have seen the problems firsthand while conducting an ongoing study of waste and water management in the beach towns of Mal País and Santa Teresa. Located on the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, they have faced growing waste management issues since tourism began to increase in the late 1990s.
The very beaches that residents rely on for most of their economic activity through tourism are jeopardized by waste from littering, bags of trash that are not collected and materials that wash up on shore. To compound the issue, the nearest dump in Cóbano has been condemned and ordered to be shut down for the last two years but remains in use.
As I have mapped contamination and gathered input from local stakeholders, it has become clear that a coordinated effort to facilitate waste management at the municipal level is necessary if the area is to continue attracting tourists.
To read the full story, visit http://www.ticotimes.net/2016/10/10/reduce-recycle-remain-relevant-global-tourism.