Costa Mar's beaches yield 847 tonnes of plastic in spring cleanup

The spring cleanup campaign, which ran from April through early June across eleven beaches from Punta Negra to Río Esperanto's mouth, collected nearly three hundred tonnes more plastic than the same period last year. Volunteer teams working with the Marine Ministry in Puerto Azul documented microplastic concentrations at Playa Blanca and Bahía del Faro that exceeded the Reef Monitoring Network's alert threshold by fourteen percent, marking the worst readings since the network began systematic measurement in 2023.

The tally arrives as the rainy season approaches, when inland runoff from agricultural lands and urban drainage systems typically surges into coastal waters. Marina Cortés, coordinator of the coastal cleanup initiative, said the volume recovered this spring suggests the problem is no longer seasonal but structural. The cleanup teams worked in shifts through the heat, removing not only visible plastic but also documenting the composition of debris—a task that will inform the Federal Civic Affairs Ministry's upcoming coastal-management review.

Tourism operators in Puerto Azul and the smaller beach towns report that visitors are noticing the difference. Dive cooperatives have begun scheduling morning cleanups alongside their regular tours, turning the work into part of the experience. Yet the scale of what the spring campaign uncovered has raised questions about whether voluntary effort alone can keep pace with the volume entering the water.