Behind the scenes
Building a river interceptor in Asunción
An 8-part series with the founder
A blog series documenting how we're trying to stop the trash before it reaches the bay — in real time, with the failures included.
The series
8 postsEight posts. Eight stages of the work. Read in order, or pick the one that hooks you.
- 01Post
I went rowing and the bay was full of trash
How we realized the cleanup model was already broken before we started.
3 min readMay 1, 2026 - 02Post
Why most river cleanups in Paraguay fail (and what we're doing differently)
Bad designs, theft, PR projects — and the team trying to do it for real.
5 min readMay 1, 2026 - 03Post
Before we built anything, we cleaned the river by hand. Most of what we pulled out wasn't plastic.
85–89% non-recyclable. Largest category: textiles. That changes everything.
4 min readMay 1, 2026 - 04Post
Three stages, no motor: how the interceptor actually works
Static, staged, designed for graceful failure. The river does the work.
4 min readMay 1, 2026 - 05Post
Antequera — where we're putting the first one (and what could go wrong)
A 2-meter creek, 3 months, real conditions, no escape from reality.
5 min readMay 1, 2026 - 06Post
From the river to a park bench: what happens to the trash after we catch it
The honest goal of this project is to make the interceptor unnecessary.
3 min readMay 1, 2026 - 07Post
Why we called it Marea (and where this is going)
Real success = imitation. We don't want credit. We want copies.
3 min readMay 1, 2026 - 08Post
How to actually help (we'll take everything)
Money, time, expertise, contacts, honest critique — in roughly that order.
3 min readMay 1, 2026