After the Nosara dump’s driveway was blocked by garbage at the end of 2015, the Nosara Recycling Association together with the Municipality of Nicoya and area residents and businesses began the campaign “Let’s Clean Up the Dump (Municipality + Businesses + Community)”.
During the first two weeks of 2016, two garbage trucks have gone in and taken away more than 20 tons of compacted trash. The cost of the first 10 trucks was sponsored by several area businesses in collaboration with Enrique Vega, who operates heavy machinery, and even the mayor, Marco Jimenez, who financed one of the trucks out of his own pocket.
Each truck has capacity to take between 10 and 14 tons per trip, and the cost of each trip is $400.
The Nosara garbage dump has been receving waste from Nosara and surrounding communities for more than 20 years. Currently they collect about 18 to 20 tons of waste weekly, which puts the aquifer that supplies water to our community at risk.
The idea is to clear a large part of the exposed garbage that is in the Nosara dump during the course of this year. The agreement is that the municipality pays for final disposal in the Santa Cruz landfill, and the businesses and community of Nosara pay for the transportation.
The Recycling Association is coordinating the work and is responsible for ensuring that the job gets done.
The goal is to take two trucks per week throughout the entire year, so they need to raise more than 20 million colones ($40,000).
Also, the Recycling Association will work hand in hand with the Municipality this year so that in 2017, collection of the district’s wasts is put out for bid, as is currently done for Nicoya and Samara.
The association’s long-term recycling plan is to continue with educational campaigns that have been catching on so far in the population, so that the vast majority of people separate the garbage at home.
It is noteworthy that 50% of Nosara’s waste is organic material that can be used to make compost or feed animals like pigs and chickens, and 30% is recyclable, so only 20% has to be transported to a landfill.
Lorena and Orlando dumpster dive at the Nosara dump. They open trash bags all day long. To help them put your recyclables (glass, plastic, aluminum, tin cans, cardboard and paper) in a transparent bag, so they are easy to recognize.
Comments