[LeifCarrotson]

The country lacks any real garbage collection infrastructure. And I'm not just talking about ritzy landfill/recycling/compost bin sets every few hundred feet on the sidewalk, emptied by the municipality, I mean there's literally nowhere for any service to actually take the trash if it was in a bin and not on the ground.

Most cities don't even have a functioning, modern landfill, just clandestine piles served by dump truck. Much of the trash picked up by this effort may have literally already been collected and dumped by a truck in a pile by the river.

There's a big "broken windows" element to the continuation of the problem. It's going to take altruistically motivated, powerful regulators and a lot of money to fix, and neither is not easy to come by in Guatemala.

[sidewndr46]

If that's the case, then what is this charity going to do with all this trash? Send it back up the river to be dumped again?

[dredmorbius]

"After trash is removed from the Interceptor Barricade using excavators, it is weighed on-site to determine the total catch quantity and passed to local partners and waste management authorities for processing."

Caption to the first photo in TFA.

[sidewndr46]

Sure, I saw that as well. But based on the data in this post, the local trash disposal method is to just dump it in the river.

[dredmorbius]

One would hope that specifically-contracted partners and authorities wouldn't be engaged in such activities, though Ocean Cleanup's site is ... somewhat vague on this point.

Might make for a useful pointed inquiry, as such gaps and loopholes are a stubbornly pervasive aspect of similar initiatives.

[nickburns]

you'll make your progeny exceedingly wealthy beyond even your wildest dreams and for generations to come if you can answer the first question. but you're obviously just being sarcastic given the second, so no, that's not likely what they intend to do with it.

[nickburns]

very, very well said.

just from one language learner to another, so i hope you can appreciate this small grammatical correction:

> and neither is not easy to come by in Guatemala.

...the infamous 'double negative' que es correcto en español y otros, ¡pero es incorrecto en inglés!

it would seem to be true, and i would certainly defer to you, that altruistic minded and not toothless regulators, plus a whole lot of money are both necessary—and *neither is easy to come by in Guatemala.

again, great explanation of what might be difficult to comprehend from the perspective of others in this modern, interconnected world.