Meet Wanda Díaz, our water wheel!
Wanda is an innovative system —the first of its kind in Latin America— that uses hydraulic energy and solar panels, along with the manual work of our team, to collect and remove floating solid waste from the river, preventing it from reaching the sea.
This project is built on three main components: research, engineering, and environmental education and awareness.
Engineering Component
The Wanda system operates with cutting-edge technology developed by Clearwater Mills in Baltimore, United States, and is complemented by locally designed elements.
Floating trash traveling down the Juan Díaz River is intercepted by two floating barriers. The first barrier stops as much waste as possible. Any debris that gets through is captured by the second barrier, which redirects it toward Wanda’s conveyor system.
Wanda features a conveyor belt powered by the water wheel and solar panels. This belt collects all floating debris, which is then manually sorted by our cleaning crew.
Plastics —mainly PET (type 1) and HDPE (type 2)— are placed on a second conveyor belt that transports them to the collection center, where they are accumulated and bagged for recycling. Non-recyclable waste is sent for proper disposal.
Education and Awareness Component
Alongside the work of Wanda and B.o.B., we collaborate with upstream communities in the Juan Díaz River Basin to educate about the importance of not dumping trash into the river.
Since late 2021, we have reached over 35 schools and approximately 25,000 people, including teachers, students, Community Board members, Health Center staff, and MEDUCA representatives, among others.
The program’s action plan includes talks, presentations, and workshops on separating recyclable materials, as well as hands-on collection and sorting activities at the Billy Truck Mobile Clean Point (run by Fundación Costa Recicla).
The selected communities are located in the districts of Panama and San Miguelito, specifically in the townships of Belisario Frías, Arnulfo Arias, Rufina Alfaro, Omar Torrijos, Ernesto Córdoba Campos, and Juan Díaz —all within the Juan Díaz River Basin.
As part of this component, we implement Wanda Educa, a school program that integrates six cross-cutting educational themes.
Research Component
The research component allows us to collect information and data on floating waste pollution in the Juan Díaz River Basin. This data will be made available to decision-makers to support the development of public policies, community projects, and other tools that help understand the problem and drive effective solutions.
