Plastic Waste and Human Health Effects in Guatemala

Summary

Ecolectivos is a type-1 hybrid-effectiveness-implementation study that uses a village-level cluster randomized controlled trial design. The goal of this study in rural Guatemala is to assess intervention strategies to reduce plastic burning in 8 intervention villages compared to 8 control villages. The intervention group participants will participate in 12 weekly behavioral working group sessions; the control group will not receive any specific activities. Two hundred women of reproductive age and other community members from these villages will be enrolled in each group. The follow-up period is 12 months. Data will be collected via interviews, focus groups, air pollution sampling, plastic waste collection, urinary biomarker assessments, and ambient air sampling. Program evaluation and results dissemination will occur in the last year of the project.

Conditions

• Environmental Exposure

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

The community working group

The intervention consists of educational working group (WG) sessions over 12 weeks. Eight core modules discussing essential elements (such as main problems of solid waste management, health effects of exposure to burning plastic, sustainable alternatives to plastic litter) and four periphery modules to help identify community-driven interventions to reduce plastic burning in household fires, consume less plastic, recycle, and repurpose plastic, will be held. Participants will prioritize one task that can be attained in the next 9 months, with the guidance of community workers (promotoras), such as: * engaging in a community clean-up * starting an organic compost pile free of plastic waste * training on community recycling, focusing on plastics recycling * making organic soaps, to use for personal grooming or washing clothes, eliminating plastic packaging * creating materials out of plastic, like bottle planters

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad del Valle, Guatemala

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California, San Francisco

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Georgia

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

  collaborator NIH

• Emory University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Eri Saikawa, PhD · Emory College of Arts and Sciences: Environmental Sciences

• Lisa M Thompson, PhD, RN, FNP · Emory University - Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-01-31

Primary Completion

2026-05-30

Completion

2026-05-30

Countries

• Guatemala

Study Locations