After the first month of the alliance, Avianca, Deprisa and Hábitat Sur managed to remove more than a ton of plastic waste from Leticia. These were used in Bogotá by Ekored, a company in charge of collecting PET in Colombia and focused on dignifying the work of recyclers, promoting the circular economy. The objective of this alliance is to reduce plastic pollution in the Amazon and positively impact the territory and its communities.
The agreement was officially signed at COP16 by Frederico Pedreira, CEO of Avianca, and Adriana Bueno, director of Habitat Sur. It is part of the “save your jungle” initiative, which seeks to have the Letician community actively participate in the separation and delivery of recyclable waste, thus contributing to the generation of actions to mitigate plastic pollution in the Amazon, the reduction of the effects of deforestation and awareness about responsible tourism.
The work carried out by Leticia is in addition to the work that the airline has carried out in territories such as the Galapagos Islands, where, together with Ecoventura, since 2022, it has transported more than 17,000 kg of recyclable waste, a product of tourist activity, to protect and preserve the ecosystem.
In addition to the positive impact on the environment, this alliance with Habitat Sur seeks to have a social impact on the territory, promoting and dignifying the work of professional recyclers by providing work material (waste collected and transported), with a weekly capacity of up to 500 kg, loaded onto the planes that cover the Leticia-Bogotá route. This plastic input is delivered in Bogotá and transformed by Ekored into textiles, the payment for which, received by the foundation, is invested in the development of technical capacities for the project and in the salary of the recyclers linked to the initiative.
“Few places are as important to Colombia as its Amazon. At Avianca, we not only want to contribute to its connectivity and development, but we also seek to build alliances to put our aircraft at the service of the urgent needs of its population and its ecosystem. Our alliance with Habitat Sur, with the support of the Amazonas Governorate, is a decisive step in our decision to protect strategic ecosystems such as the Colombian Amazon,” said Frederico Pedreira, CEO of Avianca.
“For Habitat Sur, having strategic partners like Avianca and Deprisa is essential to take our initiative to reduce plastic pollution in the Amazon to the next level. This alliance allows us to prevent hundreds of kilos of plastic from remaining in the Amazonian ecosystems, affecting its fauna, flora and the well-being of its communities. In addition, it allows us to contribute to strengthening the value chain of plastics, facilitating their use and transformation through Ekored. We are excited and grateful for this alliance for the forest, for the rivers and for all the biodiversity that is the great wealth of our country,” said Adriana Bueno, director of Habitat Sur.
“The department of Amazonas, with more than 2 million hectares of protected forests in four natural national parks that overlap in variably with more than 10 million hectares of indigenous reservations with biodiverse territories but at the same time with some anthropic pressures in aspects associated with the integral management of solid waste, is looking for alternatives that favor the circular economy with a social sense. This is clearly represented by the strategic alliance between Avianca and the Habitat Sur Foundation, as an anchor that seeks to provide benefits to small professional recyclers so that they can take usable material to the interior of the country and market it. It is the first initiative that takes clear actions for the management of recyclable solid waste in the most important biome in the world” said Claudia Dulcey, Secretary of Agriculture, Environment and Productivity of the department of Amazonas.
This effort is complemented by the work carried out by Avianca to improve the region's connectivity, which, to date, operates a total of 11 weekly flights between both cities.
According to local figures, around 700 tons of waste are produced each month and arrive at the Leticia landfill, of which 60% is plastic, exceeding the average in other cities of 30%. Currently in Leticia, only 1.4% of these plastics are separated and removed from the municipality to be used elsewhere, which is a major problem for the region.
On the other hand, the Amazon occupies 40% of South America's territory and is home to the largest freshwater system in the world, as well as the largest continuous tropical forest on the planet. However, despite its great ecosystemic importance, according to Greenpeace, the Amazon is the seventh river that deposits the most plastics in the Atlantic Ocean globally and is among the 20 most polluted rivers in the world.
Source: Avianca.