Solid waste assessment in a coastal fishing community in Peru

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113632Get rights and content

Highlights

  • First assessment of solid waste production at sea and on land by a Peruvian fishing community

  • Small-scale fishing activities produced 0.14 kg of solid waste per person per day.

  • The small-scale gillnet fleet of San Jose is estimated to produce 154.6 kg of solid waste per day.

  • Organic waste is the most frequent solid waste produced in San Jose followed by plastics and metal.

  • Recycling through reuse or resale materials was common among families.

Abstract

Peru has a large small-scale fishing fleet upon which many coastal communities depend for their food and livelihoods. Nonetheless, no thorough assessments have been conducted of solid waste production and management of small-scale fisheries (SSF) and associated communities. We aimed to assess gillnet SSF and household solid waste generation in San Jose, north Peru. A solid waste generation assessment was conducted by monitoring solid waste production during 22 fishing trips and interviewing 70 families. Daily waste generation and recycling per capita, were calculated applying separate Generalized Linear Mixed-Effect Models. Organic waste is the most frequently produced during fishing activities (38%) and at home (83%), followed by plastic and metal. Glass, paper/cardboard, and fishing nets were solely produced during fishing trips. Daily waste per capita was estimated on 0.14 kg∗(day)−1 onboard, and 0.33 kg∗(day)−1 at home. Additionally, perception interviews showed that the population of San Jose perceived solid waste as a threat to public health and marine ecosystems. This study provides a first attempt to assess solid waste production in a Peruvian fishing community, showing the need for an integrated management plan embracing vessel and land-based solid waste generation.

Introduction

The world's coastal zones, which represent 7% of land area, are home to a large (40%) and growing portion of the human population (Small and Nicholls, 2003; Sterzel et al., 2020). Population growth and rapid urbanization of coastal areas are drivers of socio-economic and environmental changes, generating intense pressure on coastal ecosystems (Neumann et al., 2015; Sterzel et al., 2020). One large impact from this growth in population to coastal marine environments but also to public health and the economy (i.e., fishing, tourism, investment to remove litter, etc.), is pollution through coastal and marine litter (Derraik, 2002; Lyons et al., 2020; Valavanidis and Vlachogianni, 2012).

Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC), one of world's regions with the greatest population growth, has waste production estimated at 231 million tons per year - an average in 2016 of 0.9 kg/capita/day - and this is expected to increase in line with population growth (Hettiarachchi et al., 2018; Kaza et al., 2018). In LAC countries, municipalities are traditionally responsible for organizing and managing public sanitation system by providing infrastructure for the collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of waste (McAllister, 2015). Nonetheless, the unplanned and unstructured expansion of urban areas has not allowed municipalities to evolve to deal with the growing volume of solid waste. This has led to the development of poor practices for final disposal such as improper dump sites or unmanaged landfills (Pereira and Fernandino, 2019; Hettiarachchi et al., 2018; Hoornweg and Giannelli, 2007; Mohee et al., 2015). This is of particular concern for coastal cities where by 2010, about 2.5 billion MT, solely of municipal solid waste was produced in 192 coastal countries and from which a significant amount enters the ocean due to inappropriate disposal (Jambeck et al., 2015; Thiel et al., 2013).

In Peru, inadequate planning and weak law enforcement related to solid waste management is evident. By 2014, a total of 7.5 million metric tons of municipal solid waste were generated, of which between 65% and 70% ended up in open dumpsites and 21% in sanitary landfills (Orihuela, 2018). According to the Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency (OEFA, 2018), 1585 dumpsites exist across Peru, 98% of which are causing adverse environmental and social impacts. This situation is reflected in the lack of sanitary landfills in 14 (56%) regions of Peru, including 8 coastal regions (MINAM, 2016).

Alongside litter production from land-based sources, nations like Peru also face issues related to marine litter production. Marine litter describes any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of, or abandoned objects in the marine and coastal environment that can be composed of metals, glass, ceramics, textiles, paper, and timber (Schneider et al., 2018; UNEP, 2009). Marine litter can be produced by land-based and sea-based activities and can be found drifting at the surface or accumulated at different ocean depths (Williams and Rangel-Buitrago, 2019). Based on the degradation level and toxicity, different types of pollutants classified as marine litter produce broad levels of impacts in the environment and on human health (Bergmann et al., 2015). Plastic is considered one of the most dangerous materials once it is disposed of directly into the marine environment because of its toxicity and slow degradation and because of its large production volumes (Bergmann et al., 2015). Studies estimate that between 60% and 80% of global marine litter is plastic (Derraik, 2002; Tekman et al., 2019) and that this deposition is mainly due to mismanagement of solid waste in coastal communities (Galgani et al., 2019). Therefore, waste management plans are identified as important measures for preventing marine litter and its impacts (Lyons et al., 2020; Portman and Brennan, 2017). However, lack of urban planning and the rapid and unmanaged population increase has surpassed planning capacity and municipal management by government authorities (UN-Habitat, 2010; Hettiarachchi et al., 2018; Sterzel et al., 2020).

In Peru, sea-based activities such as fisheries, which is one of the main economic activities in the country, are an as yet unquantified source of marine litter. It has been estimated that, globally, ca. 20% of marine litter originates from ships, including items from fishing activities, cruise ships, and private yachts (Garrity and Levings, 1993; Hess et al., 1999; Cunningham and Wilson, 2003; Claereboudt, 2004; Duhec et al., 2015; Thiel et al., 2013). Small-scale fisheries (SSF) in Peru, defined by fisheries regulations as containing boats with a maximum of 32.6 m3 gross registered tonnage (GRT), up to 15 m in length and operating predominantly using manual work (El Peruano, 2001), have been the subject of considerable research effort due the massive size of the fleet and associated fishing effort (and difficulties with monitoring), and their resulting impacts on the marine environment (Majluf et al., 2002; Mangel et al., 2010; Alfaro-Shigueto et al., 2011; Pajuelo et al., 2018; Mangel et al., 2019; Bielli et al., 2020). But the marine litter generated by Peru's SSF has not yet been thoroughly documented, except for one assessment in Salaverry port (Solano Sare and Buitrón Díaz, 2019).

Addressing coastal and marine litter originating from land- and sea-based sources requires information about its generation and dispersal (Portman and Brennan, 2017). Considering the close relationship between the generation and management of solid waste by small-scale fishers at sea and in fishing communities, the present study aimed to assess solid waste production and management in a coastal fishing community in northern Peru, both at sea during fishing activities and on land based on household activities. The main objectives were 1) to assess household solid waste production by families, 2) to estimate solid waste production by fishers at sea and 3) to assess community perceptions towards solid waste management.

Section snippets

Study area

The study was conducted between February and July 2017 in the coastal fishing community “Caleta San José”, Lambayeque, Peru (6°46′ S, 79°58′ W) hereafter referred to as San Jose. San Jose is a key site for coastal gillnet fishing, and gillnets are the most frequently used fishing gear in the community (Guevara-Carrasco and Bertrand, 2017). The San Jose fishing community belongs to the San Jose district which has a population of 15,846 inhabitants (INEI, 2018). According to the National

Household solid waste

Each interview represented one household with between 2 and 11 people (average 5.25 ± 1.84 s.d. persons). Ages of the persons interviewed ranged between 18 and 70 years (average 44 ± 14) and the level of education was 60.6% primary school (i.e., 43 people of whom 11 did not complete primary education), 32.4% secondary school (i.e., 23 people of whom 8 did not complete secondary education) and 7.0% higher education.

Organic and plastic wastes were reported by 100% of homemakers, while metal waste

Discussion

Marine and coastal litter has become a global problem requiring immediate attention from waste managers and urban planners (Duhec et al., 2015; Portman and Brennan, 2017). However, to successfully implement a solid waste management program, reliable information regarding waste production and characterization by land and sea-based activities is required (Gidarakos et al., 2006). This study provides a first estimate of solid waste production in a Peruvian coastal fishing community, including from

Conclusion

For a coastal municipality like San Jose - whose waste management situation and community characteristics are similar to many other fishing communities - the development of solid waste management is imperative for avoiding negative environmental and public health impacts (Pereira and Fernandino, 2019). This study provides a first assessment of solid waste production in a coastal fishing community and we encourage extending solid waste research elsewhere along the Peruvian coastline. We urge

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Clara Ortiz-Alvarez: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Eliana Alfaro-Cordova: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Alessandra Bielli: Methodology, Validation,

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

We warmly thank the Fiestas family especially F. and F.A. Fiestas, ADLA, KAFARNAM, San Pedro School, San Jose community and ProDelphinus staff A. Jimenez, S. Pingo as well as K. Castillo. We also like to thank Ricardo Toledo for his support during the execution of this project.

This project was funded by the Regional Environment Hub Office for South America (REO), U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy-Peru, Award Number S-PE500-16-GR-252.

This study is part of the ‘Pacific Plastics: Science to

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