The sargassum was extracted from the Grupo Punta Cana facilities.
Origin by Ocean, a Finnish algae refining company, began its operations in the country with its first export of sargassum from Punta Cana to its bioprocessing plant in Finland, thus converting it into raw material for the cosmetic and food industries.
The company, in collaboration with strategic partners such as SOS Carbón, Grupo Puntacana, and Nodo Logistics, seeks an ecologically sustainable solution to the sargassum problem in the Dominican Republic.
The operations began in a first phase, where 100 trucks full of sargassum will be sent to Finland, and then a second, in which a bioprocessing plant will be installed in the country.
Origin by Ocean seeks to stimulate entrepreneurship in the country, to support and work hand in hand with companies that are dedicated to the collection of sargassum and committed to the environment and the preservation of the oceans.
Marcos Díaz, representative of Origin by Oceans in the DR, highlighted that the company seeks to grow hand in hand with its strategic partners to solve the sargassum problem and provide an ecologically sustainable product.
“We intend to create economic dynamics and job creation on the coasts of the Dominican Republic,” he stressed.
To mitigate this phenomenon that affects the country’s beaches every year, mainly at the beginning of summer, some hotels have chosen to place barriers that limit their arrival towards the coast. Others have used the harvesting method with machinery.
In 2020, the Ministry of Tourism, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Asonahores signed an agreement to rescue 35 beaches and construct barriers to manage sargassum.