A video showing heaps of plastic waste on the seashore is doing the rounds on social media, with users claiming that a beach in India is covered with garbage.
A Facebook user posted the viral post with the following caption: While you pay carbon taxes, sky-high energy bills, banned plastic straws, and carry useless paper bags that tear instantly. All to “save the environment”.
Meanwhile in India…
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral post and found the claims to be false.
A Reverse Image Search of the video keyframes find the CBS News, whicn had posted the same video in June 2022, describing that the visuals were from the Caribbean shores of Guatemala, where plastic waste from the Rio Motagua River had washed up on beaches. According to environmentalists, Rio Motagua is one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
Further searches detects a Reuters report, dated June 9, 2022, featuring several photographs of the same area. According to the report, the Rio Motagua river, which flows from Guatemala City to the Caribbean Sea, was clogged with massive amounts of plastic waste carried by its tributary, Rio Las Vacas.
A Telegraph (UK) report from July 22, 2024, also identified Rio Las Vacas as the most plastic-polluted river in the world, responsible for 2% of all river-derived plastic waste entering the oceans globally. The report further stated that around 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste currently flow from the Rio Motagua into the Caribbean Sea every year.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral post claiming to show a beach in India covered with garbage is false.
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