Residents of Orihuela Costa have been flooding social networks for several weeks with photographs of containers full of rubbish, a situation that is replicated across many different urbanisations. They claim that the coast “is a landfill,” while describing a “sad and calamitous” situation which they define as “an attack on public health and hygiene due to the critical failures in the refuse collection service provided by the Orihuela Government.”
Tired of the fact that the Council has failed to provide any solutions, AVCRL Asociación de vecinos Cabo Roig y Lomas-Orihuela Costa (AVCRL) has sent a letter to the mayor, Pepe Vegara, in which they warn of legal action “if within a few weeks, before the start of the summer season, the service is not functioning satisfactorily.”
They also attached a hundred photos, all taken within the last two months, showing “the serious deficiencies” with which the service is being provided, especially over bank holidays and weekends, with up to four days of delay in the emptying many of the overflowing containers.
Thus, they argue that “the City of Orihuela is failing to comply with its obligations under the rules regarding waste collection and road cleaning in Orihuela Costa, generating serious public health and hygiene problems.”
But, unfortunately, this is not new. This same situation has been denounced on many previous occasions by residents, “but still the Department of Street Cleaning and MSW has failed to adopt measures to provide the service, comply with its obligations, allocate adequate public resources that residents are charged for with their SUMA.”
In April, municipal sources said that “garbage was being collected normally, except for those occasions that were caused by breakdowns of trucks.” Beyond the problems generated by an old fleet, the association’s letter points out that “the service is sadly lacking, poorly planned and does not have the necessary human, technical and material resources,” noting that this in turn “generates a negative impact on the area and decreases the income of commercial and tourist operations, causing loss of profits.”
AVCRL insists that the ineffectiveness of the council shows “a clear disregard toward the resolutions handed down and a collective and illegal abandonment of this public service.”
Without going further, they continue, “many streets of Orihuela Costa, especially in the interior area, are full of rubble at the moment, illegally deposited and without any control, because the councillor of Road Cleaning and RSU has failed to have them cleared away for more than four months, despite the appeals that the residents have been repeatedly made.”
The letter asks the mayor to force the authorities and public officials of the Department of Road Cleaning and RSU and the Councillor of Orihuela Costa to provide the service normally. It also requests, in addition, information regarding planning for the financial year 2024 and the list of technical and human resources available – and specifically for the summer period – as well as the recruitment plan.
On Thursday the Association also tabled a question at the Orihuela Plenary session where they asked the Councillor for street cleaning, Rocio Ortuño, about the 2.55 million euro emergency allocation promised to the service last September.
Her response was to completely evade the question giving only a series of useless ‘sound bites’ that showed either her lack of knowledge about the subject or her unwillingness to work with Orihuela Costa residents in tackling this serious health and hygiene problem.
