ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Activists try giant screen to clean up Guatemalan river

Plastic bottles and waste float pollute the Las Vacas river in Chinautla, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The Ocean Cleanup NGO is currently piloting a trash collection device in one of the world's most polluted rivers, the Las Vacas river, where unique seasonal challenges include huge quantities of waste and massive water pressure during the rainy season. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) Plastic bottles and waste float pollute the Las Vacas river in Chinautla, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The Ocean Cleanup NGO is currently piloting a trash collection device in one of the world's most polluted rivers, the Las Vacas river, where unique seasonal challenges include huge quantities of waste and massive water pressure during the rainy season. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Share
GUATEMALA CITY -

The non-profit group The Ocean Cleanup has installed a huge, steel-mesh screen on a heavily polluted river outside Guatemala City, in a bid to stop plastics and other debris before they reach the ocean.

The Las Vacas river is strewn with mounds of trash deposited by fluctuating river currents. As the rainy season starts, all of it could be swept down stream into the Caribbean, if it weren't for a device the group calls an Interceptor Trashfence.

Looking something like a big cyclone metal fence stretching across the river bed, the screen is anchored to the river banks. The device caught so much trash that one part appeared to have buckled.

"What we are trying to do is help clean up," said Boyan Slat, director of Ocean Cleanup, noting that "we have never seen plastics pollution like this." He estimate the Las Vacas river carries about 20,000 tons of trash annually.

Tests are ongoing, to find the right way to install it the barrier.

"We continue to evaluate variables such as fence height, mesh size, and foundation security during this pilot period in Guatemala," the group said in a statement.

The trash has sparked complaints in Honduras, on whose shores much of the plastic winds up.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

BREAKING

BREAKING

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.