Karumbé: Uruguay

Karumbé’s mission is to protect endangered biodiversity, principally sea turtles and their habitats, and promote sustainable development of fishing communities, searching for alternatives to reduce the impact of human activities on these migratory animals.

The project is focused on collaborative beach cleaning actions with the participation of coastal communities and local organizations of La Coronilla and Punta del Diable (Rocha, Uruguay) for the removal of plastic waste in coastal habitats. Theses activities are supported by the creation of environmental awareness and the empowerment of communities towards a circular and more sustainable economy. Once the waste is classified and cleaned all the collected waste will be transported for subsequent recycling, generating a virtual currency in exchange for the total weight of waste delivered. This virtual currency is then re-invested in veterinary products and other supplies for the rehabilitation of sea turtles suffering from plastic intake in the rescue and rehabilitation center of Karumbé.

Project Updates

September 26, 2022

Since April 2022, we have removed 263 Kg of plastic waste (and 13.33 grams of microplastics) from the coastal environment through different actions (detailed below). We transfer all the plastic collected to the initiative Plastic-Coin for further recycling. We expect to double these quantities during the spring-summer months when the reopening of the visitor center of Karumbé in La Coronilla, which is going to operate as a permanent plastic collection point for locals and visitors as well as centralizing all the main related activities increasing the impact of the project. At the moment, the primary school in La Coronilla is actively collaborating with Karumbé NGO, hosting the plastic collection point where students and community members can deposit their house wastes (around 20 Kg/month) and the plastic debris retrieved during the program activities. 

Project benefits for the local communities

We got to involve directly 328 locals through our activities conducted in La Coronilla, La Paloma, Punta del Diablo, Lazcano and Montevideo. These activities consist of different actions such as beach clean-ups and consumption/recycling workshops, which entail a clear and powerful message about the impacts of plastic pollution and alternatives to its consumption. Our aim is to engage people to participate in a ‘circular economic’ model, recycling plastic wastes through the Plastic-Coin initiative. The involvement in the initiative benefits participants by generating a virtual coin for personal expenditures. Since this participation is at a personal level, we are not able to estimate accurate benefits generated individually. Additionally, we created awareness about plastic pollution impacts on the coastal environment, which the communities are ultimate beneficiaries, empowering them to tackle this issue.

We also reached 802 students from primary and secondary schools (double than expected) through our educational program focused on the plastic pollution issue, engaging them and their families for more sustainable use of plastics. The income generated by the project is directly calculated on the basis of the amount of plastic retrieved and transferred to Plastic Coin for recycling. Plastic Coin initiative generates exchange virtual coins according to the kg of plastic waste received. To date, Karumbé NGO has collected and transferred 263 Kg of plastic waste, generating 56.200 plastic coins. These plastic coins (valued in $1.124 approx.) are used for purchasing of veterinary supplies for the treatment of rescued and injured turtles.