Garzon Lab

The Garzón Lab comes to complement the mitigation actions carried out by Wanda Díaz to halt the pollution caused by floating plastic solid waste discharged into the Ramsar Site and Panama Bay Wetland, and our oceans. Its main objective is to stimulate the generation of community enterprises that strengthen the ecosystem of businesses, organizations, and associations working with plastics. The pilot program started in the Ernesto Córdoba Campos Communal Board, and will subsequently expand to other Communal Boards in the Juan Díaz River Basin.

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The Garzón Lab will introduce a community-based solution, unique in the country, that will facilitate:

• The transfer of knowledge to the communities in the Juan Díaz River Basin so that they can make use of and benefit from the transformation of plastics.

• The use of a prototype machine for plastic transformation and technical assistance to the local governments in the Juan Díaz River Basin.

• The empowerment of participating communities in the Juan Díaz River Basin in the processes of valorizing the plastics collected in their homes and neighborhoods.

 

The module consists of four HDPE plastic processing machines integrated into a pallet, enabling easy mobility and operation as an experiential education and learning station for the transformation and valorization of recovered and collected plastics. In this way, Marea Verde aims to facilitate knowledge and stimulate the creativity, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship of social and community leaders in the Basin in the use of recovered plastic as a raw material.

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The Garzón Lab circular economy module was constructed with international funds from OnlyOne Legacy, an organization dedicated to restoring ocean health and mitigating the climate crisis, and from the Marea Verde Association. The designs for its construction were provided by Precious Plastic Monash University in Victoria, Australia.