COOPERATIVA ORGANICA! Thinking BIG on a small scale…a new project in the works! Check in to read ongoing updates.

April 2004
Cooperativa Orgánica welcomes Cate and Lynn Lowman’s home, Casa Savasana, to our client list of participants in the project.

Cooperativa Orgánica is a CEA Action Project. We are working to decrease the amount of organic waste entering the underwater streams that reach the bays. However, we need more help from the Akumal community. Compostmen José Torres Lopez and Elimelec Hernández continue to make their rounds collecting the fresh organics, composting them and bringing back to CEA the aluminum, glass and plastic. However, the number of participants remains small

The Vecinos de Akumal record 267 kitchens in north Akumal, but only 21 kitchens have signed on. This is less than 12% participation.

Without the participation of all, we will not be able to support the program and continue to provide the service. Separation of organics, aluminum, glass, plastic and paper reduces the volume of waste by 80% or more and this is a significant reduction in garbage going to the dump.

Elimelec has begun going twice a week to the Akumal Pueblo and collecting aluminum, glass and plastic. The Akumal Delgado is working with us to designate a small plot of land to use as a collection center. Eli does not have many clients yet, but the Jovenes Ecologistas of the Pueblo are going block by block explaining how the project works and signing their neighbors up for participation. Part of the success of the project will be measured by how the Pueblo eventually takes over the work CEA is now doing. We hope that this waste management may become a business for a local person.

However, with all this success comes lots of work for our CO guys. We are not yet ready to collect the fresh organics from the homes and restaurants in the Pueblo. We were considering hiring a third compost person, to be funded by the participation from the locals in Playa Akumal, but for now that doesn’t seem to be an option.

The cost for the daily service of composting and collection of recyclables is small, only three pesos per day per kitchen. This really is not much, considering the benefit we all enjoy of a cleaner environment. We hope those who are not participating will join us in making a difference in the quality of our groundwater. Remember there is a very high cost for not acting responsibly and here it just may mean the loss of the coral reefs at Akumal—beaches contaminated like in Brazil and Florida—and a loss of earnings from the decline in reef-related tourism. Do we want to lose our unique marine environment because we couldn’t take care of our waste properly? Please join us in the Cooperativa, earn an icon on our Web site and sleep more easily, knowing that you are helping to care for the reef. Contact CEA at info@ceakumal.org and sign up now!

March 2004
Last month Cooperativa Orgánica collected over 4,000 kilos of fresh organics from the participating restaurants, condominiums, hotels and homes in Akumal. That is great participation and a lot of material for José Torres Lopez and Elimelec Hernández to bike around town. It is good they are able to compost on-site for most of their clients and they will have only the finished product to move.

In addition, the campaign to sign up participants in the R-bag project is picking up speed. Vista del Mar has become the newest participant.

We are still hoping that all residents and businesses of Akumal begin to participate in the composting project.

Composting by Cooperativa Orgánica began in July 2003, just 10 short years after CEA began. The composting part of the project addresses the issue of nutrient contamination of the groundwater at Akumal by making sure the organics are kept locked up in containers and then put to other use, not reaching the groundwater.

What sets CO’s method of composting apart from most is the collection of the liquid coming out of the decomposing material. The liquid is bottled in recycled plastic bottles and is for sale as fertilizer to be used on potted plants.

All of the Akumal restaurants are now composting either through CO or they are doing it themselves.

The R-bag is the latest addition to the services offered by CO. It is a simple system where you put your clean and dry glass, aluminum and plastic in a recycled plastic bag and leave it in a predetermined place for the COmpostmen to collect. Please do not leave it with your other garbage, or the municipality will take it away to the horrendous dump and dump it!

How much is this going to cost me, you ask? The composting and recycling service is a mere $100 pesos per month per kitchen―so little money for so much environmental good. Sign up today and get that “feel good feeling” about how you are treating Akumal’s unique, but fragile, environment.

If you are interested in joining the Cooperativa Orgánica, call CEA at 984 875-9095 and she will come to see you about the project, or you may e-mail at info@ceakumal.org and you can join the program in no time.

February 2004
Cooperativa Orgánica is going into gear with increased fresh organics, more that 1,000 kilos per week produced in high season, and the implementation of the recycling service now being offered by José Torres Lopez and Elimelec Hernández. Many exciting things are happening and as soon as we have some news we will be telling everybody the results of Cooperativa Orgánica's effort to place Akumal and Akumal Poblado apart from all of the rest of the resorts along the coast. Akumal is becoming the "place that is making a difference."

Check back often for the Cooperativa Orgánica update.

January 2004
The Cooperativa Orgánica is preparing for the high season on the playa side of Akumal with the addition of the R-bag system of recycling collection.

The R-bag is a very simple way to recycle. All you need to do is wash and dry all of your glass, plastic and aluminum containers. Put the recyclables all together in a recycled plastic bag from Mulgrew Laundry, the Super Chomak, Mini Super or any other establishment. Leave the bag in a predetermined location. Please do not leave the R-bag with your other garbage that the municipality collects. The only work you need to do is simply wash, dry and throw into a plastic bag!

As many of you recall, we had a very viable system going and most of Akumal participated when the garbage girls, Katie Post and Heather Froeming, were in town. In order to achieve our goal of a contamination-free Akumal by the end of 2005, we need your help to get recycling going again!

For this very important service, CEA asks that each home and condo make a donation for the recycling service and, if you will purchase the containers, José Torres Lopez and Elimelec Hernández will compost your organics, too. If you participate in both aspects of this program you will have reduced your volume of garbage going to the Playa del Carmen dump by 80 percent or more. Now that is significant participation!

Soon, CEA volunteers will be going door-to-door to sign you up for this service, determine where you will leave your R-bag and kitchen organics, and collect your first month’s donation. Please join in and recycle.

For more information, please call CEA 984/875-9095 or email info@ceakumal.org

December 2003 Update:

José and Elimelec have not been terribly busy since the organics production has been down this past month. To stay busy, they have been helping out with another project, the beautification of the CEA dorms.

The CEA dorms have always been out in the blazing sun without the benefit of shade or beauty. Thanks to some very dedicated EcoTourists ― Jon, Shawna, Eva and Alison ― the dorms have a new look!

Jon and Shawna designed a simple stick trellis that they, with lots of help from Eva and Alison Estes, have built in front of the dorms. José and Eli are building stone gardens and are planting a variety of plants that will climb the trellis and shade the front of the dorms and, eventually, the roof.

Claudia Tolentino provided plant expertise and many of the plants that have been put in place. Some of the plants have been taken from the wetland in front of the CEA director’s home.

It is hoped that with the plants growing over the trellis and the roof we will be able to cut the use of the air conditioning and the cost of electricity for the front dorms with the shade created by the plants.

Check out our before and after pictures of this fun project.

Dorms in 1998 with University of Wisconsin students

CEA Dorms in September 2003

Garden wall being built November 2003

November 2003 Update:
The past month has seen a drop in organics production in the town, but high season is coming and the Compostmen, José and Elimelec, are getting ready for a much higher volume of waste.

The system that José and Eli have been using has worked very well and they have many kilos of ready-to-go compost. They are having a bit of trouble finding the bags for the product and have decided to use flour and sugar bags that are used for large quantities of both. The picture below shows the first two bags of Cooperative Orgánica Compost.

José and Elimelec are now going all the way to the north end of Akumal to compost for Que Onda and they are offering a new service: recycling of glass, plastic and aluminum.

All you have to do is rinse and dry the containers, put them into a bag - clear is preferable - but use the plastic bags you get in the stores, simply marked with a big ‘R’ as shown in the picture below.

If you will, please join Cooperativa Orgánica and separate your organics and now your clean and dry glass, plastic and aluminum you can help us reduce the volume of waste by nearly 85%.

To join, just call me, CEA, 984/875-9095 or email info@ceakumal.org and we will make sure that you are added to our growing list of Cooperative members. All members are recognized on CEA’s website with the recycling symbols next to their name or the name of their home or business.

We thank all of our members, Lol Ha, Akumalito, Chomak, Mini Pueblito, Wednesday and Saturday Market, CEA Dorms, Cueva de Pescador, Imelda’s La Ecocina, La Buena Vida, Que Onda, Jevanna Toribio at Nicte Ha and Casa del Mar, and Scott, Dani and Terry.

We are aiming for 100% participation, so please join!!!!

Kate Robinhawk

October 2003
Over the last 6 weeks, José and Elimelec collected and composted 2,136.9 kilos of kitchen waste. That signifies over 2 tons of organic material removed from the waste stream and a lot of nutrients that will not contaminate the groundwater.

This month, La Buena Vida and La Cueva joined the Cooperativa Organica and as soon as they return from vacation, the Turtle Bay Bakery will also be giving us their organics. This means that all of the restaurants in Akumal have become members of the cooperative and we feel we are on our way to a clean and green Akumal. Scott, Dani and Teri have joined as well, they are the second private home to become members.

This month Emilio Talancon and Kate Robinhawk visited with Servicios Urbanos, the garbage collectors in Playa del Carmen who provide the garbage pick up in Akumal. They indicated to us that they are very happy to cooperate in any way they possibly can with the Cooperativa Organica Project. However, they are not separating the garbage and have no plans to do so. They did think that removing the organics was a good idea as it would help keep their trucks from smelling bad.

On another note, Akumal now has plastic collection by Avangard, the authorized collectors and members of ECOCE. Avangard has provided CEA with big collection bags. The locations of the collection bags will soon be announced. Avangard will come and collect the bags when they are full. The bottles are transported to México City and from there to the West coast. From the West coast they are shipped to China where they are transformed into many products such as clothing and plastic lawn chairs.

This seems to us to be quite an expenditure of energy and fuel, but it is a beginning to finding a solution to the ever-growing problem of disposing of throwaway materials.

If you would like to know more about Cooperativa Orgánica or recycling your plastic drink bottles, please contact CEA 984/875-9095 or info@ceakumal.org

September 1, 2003
Nearly two months have passed for the CEA Action Project, Cooperativa Orgánica. José the Compostman has new clients for the composting project: Que Onda Restuarant, Villa Nicte Ha and Casa del Mar, the first homes. We give many thanks to Maribel and Jevanna Toribio for joining Cooperativa Orgánica.

Cooperativa Orgánica goes a step beyond the usual composting systems in order to contain the liquids from the compost pile.

José began his composting project on July 7 and since that time he has learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. The most important lesson learned is that the material needs a lot of watering to give the microbes a drink to keep them going and the liquids that drain from the compost pile need managing as well.

Also, José has found that the garden cuttings needed for the compost should be kept in a covered bin to reduce the chance of fly larvae from being deposited in that material.

In addition, there is a big challenge that we didn’t consider when José began…

A lot of fresh orange juice is being served at the local restaurants and José is collecting many kilos of citrus fruit peels daily. Most of the peels are cut only in two pieces and do not compost very quickly

Since the citrus seems to be the major portion of the organics waste stream, CEA Ecotourist Eva Estes has taken up the challenge of finding ways to turn the peels into products of value. The CEA dorm kitchen has turned into a kitchen/laboratory and, so far, orange cookies and orange syrup have been made. On the burner is candied orange peel, orange zest and orange and lime granola cake. We hope to be baking soon in a solar oven.

In addition, orange scented candles, orange leather boxes, sachets and wreaths made with orange and lime peels are in the research and development phase. APeels product line is on its way!

Stay tuned to CEA’s Web site and we will keep you posted about the problems and progress José encounters on his way as Compostman and Eva with APeels!!!!

Members of Cooperativa Orgánica
Imelda’s Ecocina
CEA Dorm Kitchen
Las Palmas Minisuper Comida Economica
Wednesday and Saturday Fruit Market
Akumalito
Super Chomak
Lol-Ha Restaurant
Las Casitas
Villa Nicte Ha
Villa Casa del Mar
Que Onda Restaurant and Hotel

Thanks to all who cooperate to help make Akumal a cleaner place to live.

Update August 25, 2003
José Torres Lopez collected 890 kilos of organics in the first month of the Cooperative Orgánica operations. This is nearly a ton of material!!! In addition, José has a new companero Elimelec Hernández to help him make the project grow


Update July 19,2003
The goal of Cooperative Orgánica is to contain all of the nutrients from the kitchen waste and keep them from contaminating the groundwater. In order to do this, it is necessary to capture the liquids that fall out of the rotting material.

José has begun work on learning the art and science of composting. His first composting clients Imelda’s Ecocina at The CEA Center and the CEA dorm kitchen and, so far, all seems to be disintegrating well. There are no odors and no flies. This is good.

José is weighing the organics before he puts them into the composting bin. He is keeping daily records of the amount of material he is receiving and when it is cooked, he will weigh the final product as well. In this way, CEA and the members of the cooperative will have a record of how much organic material is being separated from the rest of the waste stream.

The liquids that remain will be sent to a CEA wetland treatment system for final use by plants and a record of the amount of liquid collected will be kept.

Getting started has been a time consuming proposition so, for now, José is concentrating on the north end of Akumal Bay. As soon as José has all of the generators in that area easily composting he will be moving out into the greater Akumal community. If you are anxious to get started though, call us, Kate and José at 875-9095 and José will make you a part of the starter list of Cooperativa Orgánica members. He will come and take your container order and deliver your system to you right away, so call if you want to begin now.

June 17,2003
CEA is launching a pilot program to collect the uncooked kitchen waste from each Akumal restaurant, home and condo. We have a donor who is buying a tricycle, uniforms, signage and providing a salary for a staff person to run La Cooperativa Orgánica for a 2 month trial-period. All we need is for you to give La Cooperativa Orgánica the uncooked, non-meat, non-dairy organics from your kitchen and the finished compost.

Monday through Saturday La Cooperativa Orgánica will come to your home and tend to the compost you collect in a simple container system.


The container system consists of a covered container for the kitchen; another covered container to store the organics outside for La Cooperativa Orgánica and several containers for the composting itself. The cost for the basic container kit is $200 pesos.

The service will begin July 14. Prior to that day, the La Cooperativa Orgánica staff person will come to you and

• explain the service and the composting process
• sign you up for the service
• take your container order and a deposit for the purchase of the container system

La Cooperativa Orgánica will deliver your containers and, at that time, you will receive complete instructions on how and where to leave your organics to be composted.

It is hoped that we will be able to offer this service free of charge, but it is not now known if that will be possible. The plan is to cover expenses through the sale of the compost, but it will take some time before there is any product to sell…
donations are more than welcome!

It’s that simple. Join now and help clean and green Akumal!

If you have any questions or comments, please contact CEA, 984/875-9095 or email info@ceakumal.org