Hiring a garbage-collection company and getting approval from the Municipal Council are the only two steps remaining for residents of Nosara to get garbage pickup.
According to the Muni’s environmental manager, Jorge Esquivel, a process is currently underway to hire an outside company to fully take over the task.
“We’re asking that the company take care of everything from gasoline to the driver to the workers, because the Municipality doesn’t have the ability to do so,” said Esquivel.
The problem stems from the Municipality’s garbage trucks, which are in very poor condition – and purchasing a new garbage truck can cost up to ₡120 million.
After hiring the company that will provide the garbage trucks and labor, all that’s left is verification by the legal department and approval by the Municipal Council to finish the process.
For Jessica Sheffield, resident of Nosara and member of the Nosara Recycles Association, the biggest problem right now with the lack of a municipal garbage-collection service is caused by an open-air dump that contaminates the aquifer that lies underneath it.
“It’s been over five years that the Nosara Recycles Association and the Nosara Civic Association have been asking for this,” says Sheffield.
Waste collected by the new company will be dumped at the Santa Cruz landfill, just like the rest of the canton’s garbage.
The service will be offered Mondays and Thursdays and will include four routes from San Pedro to Garza. The municipality will charge around ₡9,800 per month, per house.
However, the municipal project still faces obstacles for picking up garbage due to the deteriorated condition of the national route that leads to Nosara – a route that gets even worse when it rains.
“I sent a memo to the ombudsman’s office stating that it’s important not to hold only the Muni responsible, because the terrible condition of the national road increases maintenance costs for the company’s trucks and, in turn, for the Muni,” said the environmental manager.
For Esquivel, it’s also important that the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation improve the road by executing a maintenance plan, which would then increase the service area coverage.
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