JALAPA — Women in rural Indigenous Xinca villages in Jalapa selected community cleanups as their strategy to reduce plastic waste and combustion after participating in workshops run by the Ecolectivos project. The initiative is a behavioral intervention designed to address the health impacts of burning household trash in the Santa María Xalapán mountains.

Ecolectivos is a project run by U.S. and Guatemalan researchers studying how burning plastic affects the health of women and children in the region. The effort is a collaboration among researchers at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Emory University, and the University of California, San Francisco. Lisa Thompson of the University of California, San Francisco, and Eri Saikawa of Emory University co-lead the project.

The workshops aimed to help residents identify plans to reduce plastic waste and combustion. In the village of El Duraznal, women participated in months-long sessions and chose community cleanups as their primary method for addressing the issue. Soila Elizabeth Cruz was elected as a promotora, or environmental health leader, to oversee the village's plastic-reduction plan following these sessions.

Cruz previously burned plastic trash next to her house and in her cooking fire. As part of her new role and personal commitment to the village plan, she switched to using burlap bags and baskets instead of plastic bags. She also retrieves plastic litter from under a barbed wire fence in the village. The community of El Duraznal collects waste every three to five months.

Nearly three-quarters of households in rural Guatemala burn their waste, including plastic. Additionally, 95 percent of rural households in Guatemala cook with wood fuel. Pollution from cooking with solid fuels like wood is a leading cause of death for women of childbearing age.

A 2023 study led by Eri Saikawa estimated that burning plastic waste across Guatemala could produce notable increases in emissions. Guatemala imported more than 1.2 million tons of household plastic goods over the past decade, according to United Nations trade data. Imports of plastic products from China to Guatemala have nearly tripled since 2016.

A study in Environmental Research Letters reported that Guatemala is importing increasing amounts of hard-to-recycle plastic waste. The Motagua River is one of the most plastic-polluted rivers in the world. More than half of Guatemala's population lives in poverty.

Lisa Thompson is a professor in the Department of Family Health Care Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. Her background includes studying indoor air pollution effects during home visits to children with asthma in San Francisco’s East Bay in the 1990s. Thompson pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley’s environmental health studies program.

She collaborated with Kirk Smith on indoor air pollution research. Smith documented the health hazards of smoky stoves in developing countries.

Thompson participated in the first randomized controlled trial to study the health effects of indoor air pollution in Guatemala. A study resulting from that trial showed that enclosed stoves led to a reduction in severe pneumonia in children. These prior findings inform the current approach to reducing combustion-related health risks through the Ecolectivos project.

Why It Matters

The Ecolectivos project addresses an intersection of environmental pollution and public health in rural Guatemala. With nearly three-quarters of rural households burning waste and 95 percent relying on wood fuel for cooking, the exposure to harmful pollutants is widespread. The selection of community cleanups by women in El Duraznal demonstrates a locally driven strategy to mitigate these risks. The project's focus on the Santa María Xalapán mountains targets a specific population where women and children are disproportionately affected by the health consequences of burning plastic and solid fuels.

The scale of plastic importation and the lack of recycling infrastructure exacerbate the problem. Guatemala has imported more than 1.2 million tons of household plastic goods over the past decade, with imports from China nearly tripling since 2016. Given that less than 9 percent of plastic is recycled globally, burning remains a common disposal method.

The 2023 study led by Eri Saikawa notes the potential for notable increases in emissions from this practice. By documenting the health impacts and testing behavioral interventions, the collaboration between Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Emory University, and the University of California, San Francisco, seeks to provide evidence-based solutions to a persistent public health crisis.

What's New

A study titled Development and evaluation of a behavioral intervention to reduce household plastic waste burning in rural Guatemala: Study protocol for Ecolectivos, a cluster-randomized community was published in 2025 in medRxiv. This publication outlines the methodology for the ongoing research into the effectiveness of the interventions implemented by the Ecolectivos team.

Guatemala was established in 1821. This historical fact provides context for the nation's long-standing political and social structures, which influence current environmental and health policies. Lisa Thompson is a researcher. Her role as a co-leader of the Ecolectivos project connects her extensive background in indoor air pollution research to the current efforts in rural Guatemala.

Timeline

1990s: Lisa Thompson studied indoor air pollution effects during home visits to children with asthma in San Francisco’s East Bay. 2016: Baseline year for tracking plastic product imports from China to Guatemala, which have nearly tripled since then. 2023: Eri Saikawa led a study estimating that burning plastic waste across Guatemala could produce notable increases in emissions. 2025: A study protocol for Ecolectivos was published in medRxiv, outlining the methodology for the cluster-randomized community trial.