When he was a child, Diego Saldanha swam and fished in the Atuba River in Paraná, Brazil. Over the years, however, he began to see the place that was part of his memories fill up with waste.
In 2016, he decided to do something about it. At the time, he made a living selling fruit and did not have many resources, but he began building a makeshift barrier to stop the trash carried by the current. He used simple materials, including barrels and nets, and tested the system in the same river of his childhood.
The idea grew over time. That first barrier eventually evolved into a system capable of containing and removing large amounts of waste that reach the river.
And what Diego has found in the water demonstrates the scale of the problem. The objects removed include televisions, a sofa, a refrigerator door, and hundreds of helmets, as well as enormous amounts of plastic and other waste.
According to his own estimates, he has already removed more than 40 tons of trash from the Atuba River.
But for Diego, the figure is not the most important thing. His motivation was born from something much more personal: reclaiming part of the river he knew during his childhood and keeping the promise he made to his children.
What began with a homemade idea and the resources of a fruit seller ended up becoming a project that has spent nearly a decade trying to give the river back part of what it lost.