100+ tons of garbage washed up on idyllic Caribbean beach in Honduras after anti-waste barrier failure in Guatemala (VIDEOS)
A large 'tsunami' of trash has hit a beach in the town of Omoa in northern Honduras. The garbage traveled from neighboring Guatemala, where anti-waste barriers were damaged by heavy rain.
Footage from the scene shows thick layers of plastic bottles and other waste carried by the waves and piled up on a sandy beach next to wooden shacks and palm trees.
A huge wave of trash washed up on the beaches of Omoa in Honduras, leaving mostly plastic refuse piling up on the beach.Authorities say the garbage is coming from a river in Guatemala and affecting beaches that depend on tourists. https://t.co/ucQyntBNu9pic.twitter.com/Fo2K2ZPerF
— ABC News (@ABC) September 22, 2020
Local official Daniel Ortega said that between 100 and 150 tons of garbage was cleaned from the beach.
A ‘tsunami’ of trash has washed up on the beaches of Omoa in northern Honduras, marking the shoreline with piles of garbage. pic.twitter.com/g9iMXCNROI
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 22, 2020
Environmentalists have been sounding the alarm as large quantities of trash regularly wash ashore in Honduras, including in places like Omoa and the idyllic tourist island of Roatan.
Honduran officials had previously blamed Guatemala for the disaster. They said that over the years waste has been washing out to sea from Guatemala's Motagua River and forming gigantic floating 'islands of trash' that later traveled to Honduras.
Also on rt.com ‘Waste of time & resources’: Norwegian researchers call against cleansing seas of floating plastic wasteEarlier this month, Guatemala warned Honduras that waste protection facilities on the Motagua had stopped working properly due to heavy rainfall, and could not prevent the trash from flowing into the Caribbean Sea.
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