The private firm contracted by the Chapala government to collect the municipality’s solid wastes was forced to suspend service for the second time in less than a month when the landfill facility in Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos once again denied access to its garbage trucks.
Juan Carlos Castro Almaguer, director general of Grupo Integral de Recolección y Reciclados de Occidente (GIRRSA), went public for the first time Tuesday, meeting with local reporters to explain the 48-hour glitch that prevailed over the busy Independence Day holiday weekend.
He said that the problem stemmed from the Chapala government’s failure to settle accounts with the landfill. With nowhere to go to unload, the GIRRSA fleet came to a standstill until arrangements for payment were reached. Garbage collectors were able to resume pick-up and delivery rounds on Monday morning.
GIRRSA took charge of the municipality’s trash collection in February of this year under a 25-year service concession contract. It operates with six large trucks with capacity for up to 12 tons of material, three lighter trucks holding up to five tons and two supervision vehicles, with 36 employees responsible for covering seven routes throughout the municipality on a Monday to Saturday schedule.
The company is in the process of producing flyers and banners detailing service days and hours for distribution in all neighborhoods. It also offers special residential pick-up at no charge for limited amounts of construction rubble, large volumes of tree and plant trimmings and discarded household items that are not collected in regular door-to-door service. For information and appointments, call Andrea Gutierrez at 765-6280 or visit the local office at Degollado 653A in downtown Chapala.