Of the few council services that the residents of Orihuela Costa receive is the daily collection of rubbish. However, nowhere is there more controversy and dissatisfaction than in garbage and garden waste collection services, in what can only be described as a second-class service.
If you were to drive around any of the communities here on the coast on any day of the week you will find large mounds of discarded rubbish by the bins, sometimes not even by them. These mounds can be so big they often block the pavements and much of the road, more often than not this is the fault of the local residents but sometimes it can be fly tippers, somebody from outside dumping their waste.
This can become a hazard to the unfortunate resident whose home is adjacent, the rubbish also contains Garden and green waste
The fault for these unsightly, street rubbish tips lie’s firmly with the Orihuela Council because of their shambolic an adhoc system.
There is no central waste disposal centre where bulky items or garden waste can be taken. We were promised 5 clean sites by the mayor leading up to the last elections and we are still waiting for these facilities that are common in other regions of Spain.
There are few containers for disposing of garden waste; the few areas that are lucky enough to have a garden waste container located nearby will usually find them rarely emptied and huge piles of garden waste flooded across roads and pavements. As this gigantic compost heap ferments in the heat of a Spanish day the smell of decay, plagues of flies and cockroaches invade local homes.
However, the roles played by the local householders has to be acknowledged as part of the problem. Many are just happy to dump their waste without consideration for their fellow residents, as long as it is not in front of their own front door.
Once garden waste has been discarded by the side of the rubbish bins it then seems to become open season and everyone starts adding their own contribution to the ever-growing pile. Worse is when residents ignore the garbage bins entirely and start adding all types of bagged household rubbish onto the growing mounds.
Once these have been torn and ransacked by local wildlife the smell becomes intolerable. Many people have complained that they have seen mice and rats in these disgusting rubbish tips which clearly constitute health hazards.
If you were to drive around Orihuela itself you would never witness the same degree of rubbish piles by the side of the standard garbage containers and any pile that does accrue isn’t left uncollected for weeks at a time.
We need to ask ourselves why Orihuela Costa doesn’t receive the same standard of rubbish disposal. All residents pay for an equal rubbish collection service. Is this another case where the coast is blatantly discriminated against treated like a second class citizen?
Last Year PIOC requested and was granted a meeting with the councillor for security, police local and Guardia civil on the understanding that we wanted to talk about the use of CCTV, but all we got from them is that it is illegal. We had evidence supplied to us by other regions how they used CCTV and greatly reduced Fly tipping. CCTV is not illegal it just a case of applying for permission from the central government in Alicante.
La Nucia with a population of just over 18,000 has well over 250 CCTV for various reasons, and now Calpe announced that they intend to step up surveillance in coordination with the police to eradicate fly tipping. What does our council do, like the proverbial ostrich they stick their head in the ground hoping the problem will go away.
If Orihuela Costa had any councillors, then their collective voice couldn’t be indefinitely ignored. All Orihuela Costa residents need to vote to ensure that the ever-increasing population receives the services equal to Orihuela City and the only way to achieve that is by “standing together and uniting at the next elections so that we can have councillors representing the coast”
REGISTER TO VOTE YOUR VOTE MATTERS
- voting is your right.
- voting is your voice.
- voting is your power
