I used to be called “tractor girl” and then I was known as “trash girl”, this full story is for a different day, right now I want to talk about what this led to. 

Back in the fall of 2019, alongside a group of dedicated, amazing people, we co-founded Alianza Cero Basura (Zero Waste Alliance). Through covid, myself and one other employee, tirelessly worked to understand our community’s solid waste management system and this research led us to focus less on the dump (the end point) and more on consumption (the starting point) and how to build local, circular economies.  Thanks to the one and only, Christine Sperber, making sure MEA is a good neighbor has been fundamental to what we do from the beginning. She personally has helped fund our only recycling collection point in the area for many years, so as I came on board the MEA team, a partnership between Alianza Cero Basura (ACB) and MEA (MEACB?) was a no brainer. At our Baja campus, we separate all of our organic waste and send it to a local pig farmer, we make our own bubbly water to minimize single use plastic and we have an intense recycling system. These actions matter. Annually, we also host a fundraiser for ACB and make a donation through the Chip Conley Foundation. Last year, we joined their “adopt-a-spot” program which asks individuals or businesses to commit to keeping a specific area clean. We chose the MEA neighborhood. 

ACB is my baby but she has left the nest. It is now run by our beloved and only man, Juan Salvador, and a kick ass team of young, Mexican women (Carla, Jaresy, Dulce and Mayra). I am now in an advisory board position but give as much of myself as I can when I can because our community needs this. I have loved fostering this partnership between two causes near and dear to my heart and feel hopeful about how we can continue working together to create the first zero waste tourism destination in Mexico. ¡Ándale! – Caitlin Allen, MEA Manager of Experience Facilitators and Social Impact