In an effort to improve the efficiency of garbage collection in Ajijic, town administrator Chuni Medeles has announced the revamping of the local green waste pickup schedule as an emergency stopgap measure.
Effective immediately, the collection of garden refuse will be expanded to three days per week with specific routes mapped out in the central district for each day.
Thursday collection starts at Seis Esquinas following Calle Ocampo-Constitución across town to Juan Álvarez, looping back west via Guadalupe Victoria, Parroquia and Hidalgo to the starting point at Alvaro Obregón.
Service on Fridays begins with pickup along 16 de Septiembre-Independencia, jogging through the west end via Libertad, Zaragoza, Rio Bravo, Ocampo and Privada Linda Vista as far as Seis Esquinas. A second run will cover the full length of Zaragoza.
Saturday collection is focused north of the highway, traveling on Calle Revolución, Lázaro Cárdenas, Galeana, Javier Mina, Emiliano Zapata, Las Brisas and around Las Salvias.
Green waste from outlying neighborhoods will be picked up along with other household waste by the garbage truck crews assigned to ChapalaIs Aseo Público (sanitation department).
Green waste consists of grass and plant clippings, leaves, small branches cut into lengths up to 70 centimeters and other organic matter generated from garden maintenance. Householders are asked to put out no more than three large bags or tied bundles of manageable weight, only on the days designated for their streets. The refuse should be deposited at the doorstep between 8 a.m. and noon. Anything appearing after that hour may not be picked up until the following week.
Medeles expects that the new strategy will allow trash collectors to complete their work in a more timely manner, helping keep village streets tidier all week long. He reports that printed signs indicating the green waste schedule will be posted around town in the next few days. A Google map showing the routes will be loaded onto the Delegación Ajijic Facebook page.
In addition, hooks that have been attached to some utility poles and street corners by well-meaning residents will be removed to discourage people from putting out their trash at hours after garbage collectors have finished their rounds.
In conjunction with the Ajijic emergency plan, Chapala Mayor Javier Degollado announced that the municipality’s entire trash collection fleet is currently undergoing a thorough maintenance and repair program operating on a staggered schedule until all trucks are in workable condition. He added that the government will acquire two new garbage trucks before the end of the year.
He outlined additional tactics now in process or under review that will help resolve the nagging overall trash crisis that has plagued the entire municipality in recent months.
Aseo Publico will overhaul collection schedules and routes once all garbage trucks are back on the road. Municipal Sanitation and Ecology codes are under study for revisions to fine-tune regulations and establish a stronger schedule for applicable fines. And authorities will eventually launch a Reduce-Reuse-Recycle campaign to foment waste separation and recuperation of recyclable inorganic materials.
Conscientious inhabitants can get a head start by separating discarded plastic, aluminum and paper from the rest of household trash before putting it for pickup. The practice will help garbage men save time as they cull valuable materials while making their rounds. Starting an at-home compost system for kitchen scraps and garden refuse would also contribute to reducing the waste stream and the high bills Chapala pays for disposing of solid waste at a private landfill in Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos.