With help from AENOR, the sargassum on the beaches of the Caribbean will be transformed into biogas and organic fertilizers

AENOR has become a pioneer by leading an environmental project on the beaches of the Caribbean. For over a decade, the idyllic beaches of Carmen and Tulum, in the Mexican Caribbean, have been invaded by sargassum, a type of sea seaweed that tends to frequent warm and shallow waters and that, in large quantities, becomes a problem for the environment and tourism when it piles up on the coast.

To address this situation, the state of Quintana Roo, which is home to many of the most popular tourist beaches in the Mexican Caribbean, tasked AENOR nine months ago with looking for an effective way to remove these algae and, above all, take advantage of them.

The project will not only remove the algae, but will transform them into new resources, promoting their circularity. The study began with the collection of sargassum both in the sea and on the beaches so it could be transported and harvested to be processed and converted into biogas and organic fertilizers

The so-called "integrated waste management system" includes four areas of action:

1-Collection of sargassum in the sea using specialized barges that capture and grind the seaweed.

2-Development of technology parks for waste treatment and recovery.

3-Use of anaerobic biodigesters, a system that breaks down organic matter to take advantage of sargassum to produce biogas, organic fertilizer and carbon credits.

4-Recovery of the waste in gasification plants that eliminate waste such as plastics.

In the photograph, the Governor of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama Espinosa, next to the CEO of AENOR, Rafael García Meiro. They are holding the documentation on the "Sargassum, Sludge and RME Validation Study".