Town in Guatemala Bans Plastic, Decreased Water Pollution by 90% in just 3 Years

A small town in Guatamela came together three years ago to battle water pollution. The local government banned the use of plastic in town to reduce waste in their community. Surprisingly, they have successfully accomplished it through the efforts of the local community men, non-government organizations who funded them, and their local government unit.

The town in Guatamela that inspires the world today is the San Pedro La Laguna which is located in the western part of the Solola. According to Remezcla, the town has totally give up the use of plastic bags, straws and durables, and replacing them with alternatives that are more environmentally friendly such as banana leaves, baskets or even woven baskets since 2016.

The program initially started in 2015 through the help of the MDG-Fund and took a year of planning, particularly by empowering its people and educating them to understand the importance of clean water. After planning, the town in Guatemala decided to totally ban the use of plastics in 2016.

For so long, San Pedro La Laguna's community has been plagued with diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases and gastro intestinal diseases, which affected the most vulnerable members in the community, the children.

Ten thousand members in the community helped to achieve the main goal of the program. In addition, the municipal government in San Pedro La Laguna also supported the program by mandating all the visitors not to use any plastics while inside the vicinity of the community.

They give more importance and strict supervision in the lake Atitlan, a body of water in the highlands of Guatemala in Sierra Madre that has a poor quality of water in the recent years. The lakeshore was a dumpsite and many households who do not have knowledge about water sanitation lived in the place years ago.

According to Naturaleza Guru, in just three years the pollution in the water has dropped into 90 percent and it is significantly related with the total ban of plastics in the community. The community men have also witnessed the positive result of their echo decision. In 2019, three years after the implementation of the program, the community is now plastic-free.

Moreover, for the environmental justice activists, the accomplishment of the town is an inspiration to the world most especially for the world leaders who aim to reduce water and air pollution behind the global warming and climate change that we are all experiencing today.

Sheila Morena, writer in the Spanish-based environmental news site, said in her article that the willpower and the responsibility of the members in the community is an evidence to the humanities famous phrase which to want is power and that also includes caring for the environment and maintaining a sustainable healthy lifestyle.

Aside from San Pedro La Laguna, there are also other towns in Guatamela that are doing the same thing. In an article published in MDGFUND, that in 2004 San Rafael, a town in Guatamela, got an investment of $44,000 to dug a well and appointed a Community Assembly to manage the water needs of the villagers. This led 465 households to have an access of clean water and five public taps were also built through the support from MDG-Fund.

The MDG-Fund aims to raise the living and health lifestyle and standard of the most marginalized country and towns in the world. Most of the time they include community men who are affected with the ravaged environmental issues to tackle about the programs that could help them.

The MDG-Fund currently works with the five joint UN Programs in Guatamela that focus on the core concerns such as gender equality, climate change, nutrition and food security, peace and conflict prevention and helping the community to build and manage water and sanitation services.

Read more: This Guatemalan Town Decreased Water Pollution by 90% in 3 Years by Giving up Plastic and Guatemalan village takes water problem into its own hands