Nearly 13,000 fewer bottles will pollute the seas and the environment, thanks to a campaign that motivated the pilgrims to leave the plastic aside while on their way to the Basilica of Los Angeles in Cartago.
The initiative began on August 1st with stalls authorized by the municipalities of Montes de Oca and Curridabat, in a joint work with the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the MarViva Foundation.
Almost thirteen thousand bottles were collected, compared to the 8,988 that were collected during the pilgrimage in 2016.
Haydée Rodríguez, manager of Political Impact at MarViva, commented that in 2017, water delivery increased by 43%,
we are very pleased that hundreds of people came to our posts with great interest to know how to reduce marine pollution due to disposable plastic. We gave glass bottles to people as part of our campaign #ChaoPlásticoDesechable (bye, disposable plastic) to encourage them to visit our stalls and refill their bottles.”
Edgar Gutiérrez, Minister of Environment and Energy, said that the plan is to continue supporting all efforts to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic and protect the seas and coasts.