Approximately twelve tons of plastic waste enter the ocean annually, with nine and a half tons from the coastline. The Zero Waste Alliance (Alianza Cero Basura) and the town of Todos Santos are leading the path to zero-waste vacations in Todos Santos.
What is a Zero-Waste Vacation?
A zero-waste vacation means reducing your carbon footprint while traveling. This includes choosing the sustainability of your destinations by making as little waste as possible. While this may sound difficult, zero-waste vacations are simple solutions you can practice whenever you travel!
The Initiative Started in Todos Santos
Todos Santo and Pescadero are located in Baja California Sur, where 39% of the global marine mammals live. Unfortunately, these mammals get caught up in plastic packaging and bags or ingest plastic bottles and Styrofoam, thinking it is a food source. Both of these accidents lead to death from infection, strangulation, or death from eating foreign plastic waste. Some of this waste has been found in food served that was caught in the oceans!
Anti-plastic activists Maya Gutierrez and Bryan Jáuregui co-owner of Todos Santos Eco Adventures (TOSEA) started the Desplastificate Todos Santos y Pescadero Initiative in 2018. They had two goals for the initiative. Phase one was to inform all 140 local businesses about zero waste and show them how to continue doing business while eliminating plastic waste, including plastic water bottles, straws, bags, and styrofoam containers, by 2020.
“We were trying to figure out how to raise awareness of the harm we’re inflicting on the health and well-being of our community, wildlife, and natural environment through the excessive use of plastics and translate this awareness into individual, organizational, and institutional action,” Jáuregui stated.
They scored each business on a turtle rating consisting of their initiative score and delivered the results to each local business. While many businesses were unhappy with their score, all the businesses were willing to learn how to zero waste to increase their turtle score.
The initiative is currently in Phase Two, teaching the town to compost and recycle. One of the initiative’s best ideas was to involve the future of Todos Santos by educating and including the children in town.
Alianza Cero Basura/Zero Waste Alliance
The Zero Waste Alliance and its co-founding member, Maya Gutierrez, realized that eight of ten tourists and their travel-size packages were contributing to plastics and food waste (79,000 tons of food is wasted by hotels and restaurants yearly). Reducing food waste reduces the amount of packaging, production, and distribution of this food and waste. The organic waste ends up in landfills, releasing methane—twenty to eighty times more than CO2 and its global warming potential!
Zero Garbage Association (Alianza Cero Basura)
The Zero Garbage Association teaches its five program pillars: “Community Participation, School Participation, Waste Reduction, Waste Separation, and Organic Waste Management.” Their goal is to make Todos Santos the first zero-waste destination in Mexico.
Their best solution to the waste problem was collaborating with Water Ways Baja (WWB), owned and operated by Barbara Manfrediz. The collaboration allowed the Zero Garbage Association to install purified water refill stations throughout Todos Santos, enabling tourists to refill sustainable water jugs with safe drinking water.
Stay at Guaycura The Best Hotel in Todos Santos while spending a zero-waste vacation in Todos Santos and attending the White Summer Event. Enjoy a luxurious stay in our elegantly decorated suites and rooms. Enjoy mouth-watering cuisine at one of our three restaurants. Spend an afternoon in our Aena Spa, Massage Todos Santos or splash the afternoon away at the beach. Beat the summer crowds and book your room today! Ask for more information about Todos Santos events, Todos Santos wedding venues, Todos Santos yoga retreat and more.
