Chapala Mayor Javier Degollado has finally owned up to presiding over a trash crisis of nearly Biblical proportions. This week he announced vague plans to remedy a sanitation issue that has steadily deteriorated under his watch, triggering bitter complaints from a growing sector of his constituency.
Well past the half-way mark in his three-year term, Degollado now admits that his administration has become mired in a rotting pickle, with dim prospects of a quick fix.
The crux of the problem is the crippled fleet of Aseo Público, the municipal sanitation department responsible for public garbage collection services. Aside from two compact garbage trucks acquired just over a year ago, most of Aseo’s vehicles are worn out from years of use and abuse. As they are rotated in and out the mechanics shop, half of the vehicles are out of service on any given day.
The mayor has taken to commandeering mechanically sound trucks from the Departments of Parks and Gardens, Public Works and the SIMAPA water authority to substitute for broken-down garbage trucks. And he says Aseo’s trash collection crews are working double shifts to cover the municipality’s 16 pick-up routes.
Degollado claims City Hall doesn’t have money to buy the additional 10 garbage trucks, new or used, that Aseo chief Juan Cuevas requires for optimizing service. At 1.6 million pesos a pop, full restoration of the fleet would be expensive.
Citizens gripe they aren’t getting a fair exchange for paying property taxes and the new annual trash service fees tagged onto business license bills. No one knows how much of that income is specifically applied to upgrading Aseo services.
According to Degollado, Ajijic ranks as ground zero, chiefly due to the huge volume of green wastes generated in the village gardens, making up 40 percent of the waste stream. He also points a finger at condo complexes that are getting a free ride on public services.
Cuevas says he will revamp the collection system within two weeks. Modifications will include bumping Ajijic’s green waste pickup from Thursdays to Saturdays. Written notice of route schedules and policy changes will be delivered door-to-door.
Cuevas estimates that 40 percent of the town’s solid wastes is plant matter coming from private gardens.