Trash from 45 countries reaches Colombia's Caribbean beaches: study reveals its origin; ships would be dumping 39% of the foreign waste

NewsResearchers from the universities of Atlántico and Federal of Ceará, in Brazil, tracked 625 containers. Panama and China top the list. The Magdalena River dumps about 18,000 tons of plastic into the Caribbean Sea each year, according to the study by the University of Atlántico and Ifremer. Photo: Courtesy Nelson RangelJOURNALIST16.10.2026 15:12 Updated: 16.10.2026 15:12 Water bottles made in China, beverage containers from Panama, and containers that would have crossed thousands of kilometers from the coasts of Africa end up accumulated among the sand, the mangroves, and the beaches of the Colombian Caribbean. READ ALSO These are wastes that arrive dragged by marine currents or, according to a scientific investigation, thrown from vessels that sail the Caribbean Sea. The dimension of this problem was revealed in a study conducted by researchers from the University of Atlántico, in collaboration with the Federal University of Ceará, in Brazil, which managed to identify 625 containers and other objects made in 45 countries from four continents, found on three beaches in the departments of Atlántico and Bolívar. One of the findings that most caught the attention of the scientists is that 39% of the analyzed foreign waste presents characteristics compatible with dumping carried out from cargo and fishing vessels that transit in front of the Colombian coasts. Nelson Rangel-Buitrago, researcher at the University of Atlántico. Photo:Social media"The finding that surprised us the most is the 39% of bottles thrown from ships. They are Chinese and Malaysian water and tea containers that arrive impeccable, with the label legible and without a single algae attached. An object that crossed half the planet by sea does not look like that. That points directly to the cargo and fishing fleet that passes in front of our coasts, and to the need to enforce the Marpol convention, which has prohibited throwing plastic into the sea for more than 30 years," explained Nelson Rangel-Buitrago, professor-researcher at the University of Atlántico and lead author of the research. READ ALSO The study, published in the scientific journal Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, brings to the table an environmental problem that exceeds national borders and raises questions about the surveillance of vessels, waste management, and the costs assumed by coastal communities for pollution that also originates in other countries. Panama and China, the countries from which the most plastic arrivesFor six months, between September 2025 and February 2026, the researchers traveled about 15 kilometers of coastline monthly, distributed among Puerto Velero, Punta Astilleros, and Palmarito. On each day, they examined the waste accumulated on the sand and selected those that retained labels, barcodes, manufacturer names, or other signals that would allow establishing their origin. The garbage ends up on the beaches. Photo:Courtesy Personería Nuquí. The result allowed identifying 178 different products, belonging to 159 brands and manufactured by 145 companies. 94% of the studied objects were plastic and 84.5% corresponded to beverage bottles, mainly water, with capacities between 500 milliliters and 1.5 liters. Panama topped the list with 326 containers, equivalent to 52% of the sample, followed by China, with 140 objects, which represent 22%. Further behind appeared Malaysia, Ecuador, Venezuela, the United States, and Mexico. The researchers also found products made in Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Morocco, France, Spain, and other countries. READ ALSO The Panamanian brand Agua Sky was the most frequent, with 116 containers, followed by the Chinese brands Master Kong, with 50, and Nongfu Spring, with 39. Products from Gatorade, Defruts, Hydra, and other beverages commercialized in different international markets also appeared. These data allowed establishing the diversity of manufacturers and products present on the beaches, although finding a brand does not mean that its manufacturer directly threw the container into the sea. Rangel-Buitrago explained that the international origin of these wastes represents only a small part of the pollution found on the studied beaches. More than 97% of the accumulated garbage corresponds to the problem of waste of local origin, related mainly to the waste that arrives through the Magdalena River, the streams, and the activities developed on land."One must be very clear: most of the garbage we see in Puerto Velero or Punta Astilleros is ours, it comes from the Magdalena and our streams, and that is our responsibility. But in the middle of that garbage there is a strip, a small one, that was made in Panama, in China, in Senegal, and that was brought by the Caribbean Current and the ships. That strip tells us that, even if Colombia did everything perfectly, it would continue receiving plastic from the world," noted the researcher. The route of the containers that cross the oceanOne of the novel aspects of the research was the reconstruction of the possible routes that the wastes followed before ending up on the Colombian beaches. For this, the scientists combined the information from the labels with the state of conservation of the containers and the behavior of the marine currents. Palmarito - Santa Verónica sector, Atlántico with plastic remains. Photo:Courtesy Nelson Rangel BuitragoThe analysis allowed classifying four main routes. 55% of the foreign objects would have arrived through the regional Caribbean route, coming from countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Guatemala, and Mexico. Another 39% was attributed to dumping from vessels, while 5% would have arrived from Venezuela and the Guianas and about 2% from West Africa. The transatlantic route called special attention because it includes containers made in Senegal, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, which would have traveled thousands of kilometers over several months before reaching the Colombian coasts. Tommaso Giarrizzo, researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Federal University of Ceará and co-author of the study, explained that this phenomenon has also been observed in Brazil."This work confirms what we have been documenting on the coast of Ceará in Brazil: the Atlantic is a highway for plastic. The same African containers that we found on the beaches of Brazil now appear in the Colombian Caribbean, transported by the North Brazil Current. Marine garbage does not respect borders and its solution cannot have them either," he affirmed. The research also found differences in the physical state of the wastes. While some containers showed wear, loss of color, and attached marine organisms, others retained their labels intact and had an appearance close to that of a recently used product. This last characteristic led the scientists to consider that part of the garbage had been thrown into the sea during the transit of vessels, instead of having traveled long distances floating. This is an attribution based on the characteristics of the objects and the oceanographic conditions, not the direct identification of ships responsible for the dumping. Lucio Brabo, researcher at Labomar and another of the authors, explained the usefulness of this procedure."The novelty of the method is that it does not stop at the inventory. By combining the forensic identification of each container with oceanography, we can quantify how much plastic arrives through each route and, with that, tell decision-makers where to intervene." The environmental cost that the Caribbean ends up payingBeyond establishing the origin of the wastes, the research poses a problem for the coastal municipalities of Atlántico and Bolívar, where tourism, fishing, and other economic activities depend largely on the environmental conditions of the beaches. The accumulation of bottles, packaging, and plastic fragments deteriorates the landscape and forces the allocation of resources for their collection, even when part of that garbage originates thousands of kilometers away. The researchers warn that the receiving communities end up assuming costs for wastes that they did not produce, although the study does not present an economic quantification of those losses. Plastic waste found on a beach in the Colombian Caribbean. Photo:Courtesy Nelson RangelThe work also points out that floating objects can transport attached organisms and other pollutants, which opens questions about their possible effects on marine ecosystems. Faced with these findings, the authors propose strengthening the agreements between the countries of the Caribbean to share information on wastes, improve the surveillance of navigation routes, and demand compliance with the international MARPOL convention, which prohibits discharging plastics from vessels. READ ALSO They also propose expanding the obligations of manufacturers through returnable container systems, deposit mechanisms, and shared policies that allow reducing the amount of disposable products that end up in the sea. In the Colombian case, the study insists that the first task remains on land. The cleaning of the streams, the control of dumping, and a better management of the wastes that arrive at the Magdalena River are necessary measures to address most of the pollution that affects the beaches. Follow all the information from Colombia on Facebook and Twitter, or in our weekly newsletter. 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