Cancun Working to Keep Beaches Clean for 2023

Image: Cancun sign at Wyndham Alltra Cancun. (photo by Codie Liermann)
Image: Cancun sign at Wyndham Alltra Cancun. (photo by Codie Liermann)
Donald Wood
by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:47 AM ET, Wed January 25, 2023

Cancun officials are investing heavily in keeping the popular Mexican travel destination's award-winning beaches clean for travelers in 2023.

According to The Cancun Sun, the local government announced plans to implement many strategies from 2022 to limit the accumulation of plastic and glass waste and collect sargassum on Mexican Caribbean beaches.

The city will employ around 180 full-time workers who will be tasked with maintaining the beauty of the beaches in the high season. The focus will allow the destination's beaches to maintain their coveted Blue Flag statuses.

Personnel will also be hired to patrol the area's beaches, warn visitors to throw away their trash and provide education on why keeping the region clean is so important to the environment and the success of tourism.

Benito Juarez City Council members reportedly authorized the collection of 464.6 tons of waste from the seven beaches under its control last year. Of the shorelines cleaned, Playa Delfines generated the most trash in 2022.

Another major problem for the region is the stinky seaweed that collects on the beaches, with experts still trying to decipher how much sargassum is expected this year.

The region continues to develop techniques and tools to tackle the smelly problem, including the implementation of sargassum barriers and seaweed collection ships from the Mexican Navy.

Earlier this month, Cancun International Airport became the first in Mexico to accept electronic passports by implementing 14 automatic migratory filters in terminal 3 of the busy facility.


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