help alliance will support #tide in Mexico

For more than 20 years the relief organization of the Lufthansa Group, help alliance, has been committed to projects focusing on social and environmental sustainability. The non-profit organization is financed exclusively by donations. And much like #tide, help alliance's main goal is to improve living conditions all over the globe and to open new perspectives to people.

We are very pleased that the help alliance, at the initiative of the Swiss holiday airline Edelweiss Air, is supporting the starting up of our project on the Costa Maya in Mexico. The coastal region suffers from plastic pollution and lacks waste management systems as well as the know-how and the infrastructure to recycle plastic at scale. The stunning but fragile ecosystem of the Costa Maya is severely affected by waste, the mangrove forests, pristine beaches and the Mesoamerican barrier reef.

Plastic waste washes up on the beaches constantly, endangering flora and fauna. Fish and other marine life become entangled in plastic debris and die. Solving these problems is at the heart of #tide's first project in Latin America.

After establishing the impact driven business model in Thailand, #tide is now adapting the same proven methods and processes to Mexico. Plastic waste is collected locally, registered, sorted and then recycled by #tide and returned to the material cycle as raw material.

Marc Krebs, co-founder of #tide: "We want to protect the environment and for that we work with the local community. We bring our know-how to the region to empower those who are affected by plastic pollution every day: We train people to collect and sort plastic and we pay fair wages. This way we give value to waste, fight plastic pollution and recycle as much plastic as possible. We work closely with a local partner, the Mexican civic organization Menos Plastico es Fantastico".

To accelerate our project and increase the social and environmental impact on site, #tide will receive substantial support from help alliance. The funds will be used to pay local people to collect plastic, to build waste management infrastructure as well as a local sorting center.

Environmental action with social impact

help alliance is funded by the Lufthansa Group, of which Edelweiss is a member. "The combination of social commitment and environmental protection immediately appealed to me when I learned about #tide's work," says Mara Marchetti, Corporate Development Manager at Edelweiss.

The help alliance not only supports the development of a sustainable business model, but also helps maintain the Sandy Turtle Camp to protect two species of sea turtles that breed in this area. "Raising the awareness of children and educating young people in workshops is absolutely important work to handle plastic waste consciously and to build a better future," says Mara Marchetti, who works as a volunteer project manager for help alliance.

Business development support from help alliance will continue until the end of 2024, after which the Costa Maya project will be self-sustaining.