Dear Sir,
Your recent front page story of the “garbage” crisis that plagues the Chapala municipality hopefully will generate an awareness that part of the solution is to separate trash at the source – something we have done in our household ever since Ajijic Limpio was around!
Our vacation rentals have containers and sign boards telling guests how to do it. I was surprised to find how rare a practice trash separation is in Ajijic. This is 2016, isn’t it?
Today I polled our “camion” driver about how many homes sort their trash in our area. Almost none, he said. I was shocked!
Separating is quite simple and makes for a clean trash container in your home. If you do this, your trash can will not breed flies or worse. Your food scrap bag should be so small that it is easy to keep it in a closed container. You can hang them on a post in the morning for pick up. The Have Hammers group is slowly supplying Ajijic with hanging boards in order to do just that.
Dogs will not tear open your trash bags if you keep food scraps out of them and all concentrated in one small “hang-able’ bag.”
Our “garbage men” work their butts off for us. Imagine if you had rummage through garbage to pull out an aluminum can or plastic bottle. Please help them out. Plastic/glass/metal in one bag or box, paper, cardboard etc in another and finally all moist materials and food scraps in another – that’s all you really need to do.
Also, do not throw batteries of any kind into the trash. They will get buried and the heavy metals will leach into our soil, our water table and eventually into our lake. Those who are unable to find local drop off points can always leave them off at Barbara’s Bazaar in Ajijic and I will take them to the recycling centers in Guadalajara. I have been doing it for years. Do not throw them in the trash! Future generations will appreciate your effort!
Thomas R. Thompson, Ajijic