‘Waste has value’: how surfing helps Colombia solve its plastic problem

Children on Tierra Bomba can learn water sports such as surfing – if they go to school and help to clean up the beaches and streets. They are also taught about the environment. Leimer Morales, who came through the scheme, now competes for Colombia at paddleboarding. ‘Just as I could get ahead, so can others,’ he says Photograph: Charlie Cordero/The Guardian

As the morning sun beats down on the Caribbean island of Tierra Bomba in Colombia, a group of schoolchildren heads towards the beach, with two carrying surfboards over their heads. The children, many of whom are barefoot, meander through the town, also called Tierra Bomba, down unkempt and littered dirt roads, past colourful tin-roofed homes and makeshift clotheslines.

As they near the beach, the spartan concrete houses give way to palm-thatched bungalows with swimming pools overlooking the sea, flanked by colourful flowers. Playa Linda’s sands are dotted with bars, parasols and loungers, the waters crisscrossed by darting jetskis.