Following on from my previous postings;
at approximately 08:50 am today 'el Pulpo', the Orihuela Council's
hydraulic lift refuse lorry, arrived to collect the growing pile of
dumped garden rubbish.
With its keeper precariously perched on
the roof of the driving cabin – a possible 'Health and Safety'
issue—to supervise its eating, like an elephant grazing, the long
prehensile trunk lifted its breakfast into its cavernous stomach.
When 'el Pulpo' had been fed there was
nothing left, the road was almost clear of rubbish.
The household rubbish skip has been
emptied. The garden rubbish skip has been emptied. The loose,
illegally dumped, garden rubbish has been collected. But however there is
still the matter of the removal of the dumped building 'escombros', debris, shown in
the photograph below.
The household waste collection service
(two tone grey skip) and the garden rubbish service (metal skip)
operatives won't remove it, because its not in the respective
containers. The hydraulic lift garden rubbish service won't grab it.
So who is going to remove it; the bin scavengers don't want it; is
there another subdivision of the Council's cleaning services
department? Or is it to stay there, overlooked, ignored as usual by
the three main divisions as it isn't their responsibility?
It would be nice to see the road
cleared of all dumped rubbish: even though it will almost certainly
be back to square one, our very own landfill site, within a few days.
Why? Because people don't care. They have dumped their rubbish
somewhere, anywhere, so it's not their problem.
It is a continual problem that the
Orihuela Town Council has to deal with and should by now be geared up
to handle waste efficiently. But it has repeatedly shown that it
falls short of providing a dependable urban cleaning service. It
would seem that it is only residents' complaints that awake it from a
comatose condition of complacent inefficiency.
I feel there is also another point that needs raising. The council have just spent god knows how much clearing the fly tipped rubbish from PAU 9 and the dirt track down to Los Balcones. Great I applaud this; but it will not solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteThere is nowhere to dispose of small amounts of building rubbish. On some jobs it is not practical or cost effective to arrange for a mini skip, so I store my debris until I am in a position to arrange for a skip. Most of the people fly tipping are semi retired builders, those working illegally and those that are just too mean to pay for a skip or include it in the price of a job, and this is true of all the nationalities.
I propose that the council should have a dedicated area to take trade and domestic waste, so that it can be graded and sorted with the bulk then being sent for re-cycling; as is now the norm in most countries. There needs to be pro active policing of fly tippers and I believe they should also be publicly shamed especially the company in the local free papers. After all when materials are fly tipped, there is no control in place to prevent contaminants entering the ground and possibly getting into the water course.
It has been less that a week since the PAU 9 area has been cleaned, and all ready the fly tippers are back. Illegal tipping does carry a 1,000€ fine in this area, but its not enforced.
Instead of bombarding the council with requests to come and clear the rubbish how about suggesting that they, the council, create rubbish dumps where such rubbish can be taken. Yes it will create an outcry by everyone but if they pass a law outlawing the dumping of rubbish in the street, and enforce it with fines, then we shall have a system that works incredibly well in UK. We don't dump garden waste in the streets of England. Why should we do it here. We either pay someone (council) to collect it for us or take it to the local dump ourselves. Why should it be different here - how much council tax do you pay here, and how much in UK.
ReplyDeleteThe Council are well aware of their responsibility in respect of the collection, management and recycling of all types of rubbish within the municipality. The Council ordenanza 'ORDENANZA MUNICIPAL REGULADORA DE LA LIMPIEZA URBANA, EL ASEO, LA SALUBRIDAD Y LA GESTIÓN DEN LOS RESIDUOS URBANOS DEL T.M. DE ORIHUELA.' ( website http://www.orihuela.es/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ORDENANZA_MUNICIPAL_REGULADORA_DE_LA___LIMPIEZA_URBANA_aprobacion_definitiva.pdf ) is very clear on this matter. For many years the Town Council has been fully aware of the need for correctly established and managed Ecoparques within the municipality. There is a requirement for locations within Orihuela, Orihuela Costa and the Pedanias. There is the ability to impose fines for contraventions of the bye-law but the problem is there is no policing of the rules. Although I understand Clr. Pedro Mancebo, Councillor for Urban Services, has recently made a statement in respect the responsibility of the inhabitants of the municipality to comply with the bye-laws and that instructions have been given to the Policia Local to take action where infringements are occurring.
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