Macaneta Beach

A Battlefield of Trash and Chaos After September 25th

Following the September 25th celebrations, Macaneta Beach, in the village of Marracuene, turned into a veritable battlefield. Carlos Serra Júnior and his team of environmentalists, who went to the site to collect glass and plastic, encountered a scene never before seen: the road completely overflowing with garbage, broken glass everywhere, and a chaotic environment that made any entry or exit impossible in case of emergency.

According to the environmentalist, even after the women collecting trash had passed, the beach remained full of waste. "I had never witnessed a similar phenomenon before," stated Carlos Serra Júnior. The scene was chaotic: there wasn't a single square meter free, and young men and women consumed alcohol freely, without any supervision.

The situation was so serious that no one could get on or off the beach in case of an emergency. Furthermore, there were lifeguards to prevent drownings, and they did their job very well in preventing the worst from happening to people mostly driven by revelry. The tractor that was supposed to support the cleanup operation took many hours to reach the epicenter of the chaos.

The vehicles that were in the area should have been stopped upstream, which would have prevented a wave of thefts and robberies of cell phones. One woman, for example, lost contact with her family because her cell phone was stolen.

"I have already spoken to the authorities. We cannot allow this to happen again," stressed the environmentalist, who advocates for the detention of vehicles upstream as a preventive measure.

Despite the chaos, good Samaritans deposited their trash in the containers installed along the beach, thanks to projects that have supported the waste collection and remediation process and have the system installed on site.

For Carlos Serra Júnior, it is urgent to educate children on how to behave and act appropriately at the beach. "These kids are a consequence of what the government has failed to do. Forbidden fruit tastes better, and we are not addressing the children's concerns. Alcohol consumption is a matter of public policy that must be considered and implemented to dissuade and save children in Mozambique," he concluded.