The Mexican coast is being covered by a very unique raw material, sargassum seaweed. This sargassum has a brown/ orange tone which, in many cases, disturbs the beautiful blue ocean views. It has a really strong smell that intensifies as the heat goes up. They may create rashes on the skin and it creates an uncomfortable feeling as you swim amid them.
Overall, sargassum isn’t a friendly phenomenon for neither the local or the tourists of the Caribbean beaches.
Even though there are a lot of negative outcomes from the sargassum, Mexicans have been able to adapt and use our creativity to find alternative solutions.
Entrepreneurs and brands have managed to use sargassum to their advantage and have created products and innovations with it.
The pros that the seaweed holds are the benefits of its properties. Sargassum contains alginic acid, which can be applied as a thickener and emulsifier in the food industry. It has cellulose and hemicellulose, which are raw materials of paper. It generates ethanol, one of the main compounds for biofuel, and it was discovered that its properties also make it an excellent fertilizer.
With this knowledge, people were able to create eco friendly products as they helped out by cleaning the coast from the seaweed.
One of the main products where notebooks and paper that can also be used for packaging and crafts. Under this same line, cup and menu holders for restaurants are also produced with sargassum.
There were also some cosmetics made. In the 17th century they used sargassum to combat joint pains and skin diseases. These benefits are very favorable for the cosmetic products that are now being made in Mexico with the algae.
The algae can be used as a strong fertilizer. The Mayan farmers use the sargassum as a natural fertilizer for their crops and the harvested products don’t lose their texture, flavor, aroma or properties that characterize them.
Overall, this is a great example the importance to find creative solutions to problems. And this solutions have helped out to keep the Carebean cost clean.
TP Times 