As the councillor responsible for rubbish collection and cleanliness promises both to improve the service and to strengthen the council cleaning and maintenance teams that are deployed on the Coast the Cabo Roig Clean Up Committee, a group of volunteers who meet on a weekly basis to clean up in and around Cabo Roig and Aguamarina, have said that ‘enough is enough.’
Greeted once again by a mountain of roadside waste, bottles, cardboard boxes and broken plastic bags full of restaurant waste, on Friday morning they took the decision to discontinue their operation stating that it would not be resumed until such time as they can see some evidence that the councillor’s statements to the local press are just not another empty promise.
A member of the ‘Clean Up Committee’ told the Leader ‘As the situation continues to deteriorate we are having to clean up far more often than we originally intended, almost on a daily basis. We are also finding an increasing number of feral cats and even rats around the bins attacking the food wasted that has been left overnight by the restaurants and bars. This is simply not good enough. The council are disregarding their responsibilities because they know that we will clean it up, so we have decided that we will not go on until we get some help from the council.’
On learning of the decision a spokesman for the Orihuela Costa Town Hall explained that Nieves, the street cleaner who would usually operate around Cabo Roig, is on long-term sick, and they don’t know when she will return. They did agree, however, to allocate several new council staff to the area during this coming week in the hope that they will help.
As a result the ‘Clean Up Committee’ will now meet to further discuss the situation later this week.
Following his visit to the Orihuela Costa last week, Dámaso Aparicio, the councillor for Road Cleaning and Waste Collection, has also said that he will reinforce the council cleaning and maintenance teams that are deployed on the Coast.
He said that he will have the additional staff in place in time for the beginning of the summer high season and that between now and then he will “progressively add to the staff and the equipment in order to improve the effectiveness of the cleaning service.”
Aparicio, who has also recently declared his intent to stand as President for the Orihuela Partido Popular in July’s elections, added that he has earmarked 350,000 euros which will be used to meet the additional costs of hiring personnel needed to reinforce the municipal teams that will be destined for the coast.
“From 1 July It is also is planned to increase the number of waste trucks, in addition to which a new vehicle has also been hired to undertake the collection of garden waste around the coastal region,” he added.
There will also be an increase in the number of containers for Solid Urban Waste in the area. The councillor said that he is aware of many urbanisations where the numbers of waste containers should have been increased some while ago.
