British News Agency

The Rio Motagua in Guatemala is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Every year, up to 30 million tons of plastic flow with the water into the Caribbean Sea. Most of the garbage comes from the waterways that run through Guatemala City.

Last year, Ocean Cleanup set up an 8.5-meter-deep barricade in the river to catch the trash, and now, it has made the biggest catch ever. In one afternoon, the organization loaded a total of 272 trucks with 1.4 million tons of plastic.

The barricade is called the 'Interceptor Barricade' and uses a system of floating booms, one upstream and one downstream. The upstream booms catch debris that the first boom misses. The system uses large concrete anchors fixed to concrete foundations and anchored with piles along the banks of the river.

Bethanie Carney, professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg, said: "It is much more challenging to clean up plastic in the sea. This invention catches the plastic before it gets there.

"The main focus should be on reducing plastic production and ensuring that plastics do not enter the environment," says Bethanie Carney, who points out that the barrier also has its limits, that microplastics and chemicals continue to pollute the environment through the barrier, and that there is also a risk of harm to aquatic plants and animals.

Bethanie Carney, coordinator of a group of researchers supporting the UN plastics agreements, warns that solutions such as plastic barriers can create a false sense of security and act as greenwashing for companies.

Ocean Cleanup's partners include major companies such as Coca-Cola, Kia and Maersk.

"These companies want to appear to care about the environment, but it's their packaging that ends up in the river," says Bethanie Carney.

Ocean Cleanup emphasizes the importance of its partners in carrying out extensive and costly projects and sees their involvement as a way of taking responsibility for its production.