Belizean Company Eyes Sargassum as Economic Gold

For years, it’s been a messy, smelly problem along Belize’s coastline, sargassum piling up, frustrating residents, and hurting tourism. But now, one local company is looking at that seaweed in a whole new way, not as waste, but as opportunity. They’re exploring how to turn sargassum into eco-friendly building blocks and even livestock feed. If it takes off, the idea could create jobs, cut down on cleanup costs, and transform a growing environmental headache into a homegrown solution.

 

Gregory Lavalley, Co-founder, Building Belize Better Manufacturing Co

“So there is no real producer of eco-blocks in the country at this time on a mass scale that’s going to be able to fulfill the supply and demand that they have over even in the northern corridor over the next five years. There’s about a supply gap of two to seven million blocks. So this is a way for us to turn this crisis or environmental issue into a great opportunity to help with the community and build on the infrastructure and be able to support without having to bring in imported products. It’s going to bring labor to the rural villages, which rely heavily on the fisheries, which they’ve been kind of cut short this year. So we’re hoping that this is a great opportunity for the government as well as the community and our company to partner up and kind of figure out the best solution to how we can help with the problem.”

 

Lavalley says it’s still early days. Testing starts later this month, and if approvals go through, production could be up and running within six to twelve months.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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