‘We empower ourselves’: the women cleaning up Bolivia’s Lake Uru Uru

Dayana and Tatiana Blanco walk amid the rubbish that has accumulated in Lake Uru Uru. The founders of Team Uru Uru found that totora reeds – which have long been used by their Indigenous community to build houses, boats and even floating islands – can absorb heavy metals and other contaminants in the water Photograph: Claudia Morales/The Guardian

Looking out over Lake Uru Uru in the Bolivian highlands, it is hard to imagine that it once supported thousands of people, and was a sanctuary for wildlife, including 76 species of birds.

Plastic waste now stretches as far as the eye can see, the water is tinged black or brown, and the stench is overwhelming.