Open-air dumps pollute Protected Natural Areas of Baja California Sur

Plastic pollution in seas and Protected Natural Areas (ANP) represents a growing threat to biodiversity and tourism, according to the solid waste generation diagnosis for Baja California Sur made by the civil organization Ponguinguiola.

Baja California Sur is the state with the largest coastline in Mexico and an economy that depends to a large extent on nature tourism. However, Ponguinguiola identified that there are 14 open-air dumps that do not have any type of control, most of them close to different ANP.

“Most of these final disposal sites that are not being regulated are located near or in the buffer area of an ANP. And considering that the state lives on the wealth generated by having a healthy nature, having a concern for waste is essential,” said Miguel Rivas Soto, project director at Ponguinguiola.

The entity officially generates 649,271 tons of waste annually. However, they identified that there is underreporting since this figure corresponds to the garbage registered in seven Final Disposal Sites (SDF) of waste -four landfills and three controlled open-air dumps-, but it does not include the 14 open-air dumps that lack control.

“Uncontrolled waste basically means that we cannot know how much and what type of waste it receives and therefore does not allow us to generate official data,” Rivas said.

To estimate the problem of underreporting, Ponguinguiola used data on per capita generation in Mexico from the basic diagnosis for comprehensive waste management by the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources. When multiplied by the total resident and floating population of the state, waste amounts to 1,740 thousand 42 tons of solid waste per year at the state level, where Los Cabos and La Paz are positioned as the municipalities with the highest generation with 43% and 36%.

In addition, they found that none of the SDFs comply with current environmental regulations, not even the landfills in operation, and that there are indications that the number of unregulated SDFs is higher.

“We identified about 20 SDF, which is where our waste will end up..., and none of them officially meet what the official Mexican standard stipulates about the conditions that a landfill must have. There is no proper management of waste, separation, treatment of the leachates that are produced and that are highly polluting,” said Rivas.

^{Source: Ponguinguiola}

Garbage that is not properly managed contaminates the aquifer with leachate or is washed down streams during the rainy season and flows into the sea.

“The geographical peculiarities of Baja California Sur expose us to meteorological events such as rains in a short time, but with a large amount of water and that revive the streams. A large part of these dumps are 'washed' with these rains and, therefore, they carry all these pollutants into the sea. If we add to this that there are many streams that have garbage and that are not necessarily a final disposal site, but it is only garbage that is poorly disposed of, we have a breeding ground for a much bigger problem,” Rivas said.

Management, whether good or bad, ends up having an impact on the ANPs, so the vision of their conservation must be expanded to include their relationship with cities, Rivas points out.

“We must understand that protected natural areas are not polygons drawn on the map, but that they generally interact with surrounding communities. We have to think that no, because a landfill is outside an ANP, it doesn't affect it. And that's where caring for the environment is an integral issue,” Rivas said.

Some strategies suggested by the diagnosis to combat this problem are the implementation of adequate landfills, the creation of recyclers for effective recycling in the territory and the implementation of public policies focused on the reduction of plastics and on the responsibility extended to the producer.

However, another part focuses on consumer habits that can also contribute to conserving nature.

“Sometimes we are not aware of our consumption model nor do we think about how my waste is going to affect nature. The relationship with waste has to change, because it is part of preserving the beauty of Baja California Sur in my personal actions, although I don't romanticize them because it doesn't depend only on people, it's the system as a whole that has to change, but also (we have to) understand that as a community we have a share of responsibility,” said Rivas.