Proposals to fight fly-tipping
PROBLEMS with fly-tipping sites in San Miguel de Salinas have been highlighted once again by the local ‘Arcángel’ residents association.
They are calling for greater efforts from the council and a permanent ‘ecoparque’ recycling depot, as well as a bylaw to regulate urban cleaning and hygiene, and to manage large domestic waste and rubble from construction and demolition sites.
They argue that failure to keep empty plots of urban land clean and dumping of rubble and domestic items are endangering residents’ health due to the proliferation of unhygienic and unhealthy sites, which also damage the environment and the image of the municipality.
The council has not replied to repeated written complaints, despite the association having referred the matter to the regional ombudsman (Síndic de Greuges), and has merely ‘cleaned up a few sites from time to time only for more rubbish to be dumped, even in the same places’. A recycling depot would provide residents with a place to dispose of large domestic items, garden cuttings or contaminating waste in separate containers so that they can be properly treated, rather than dumping them in ordinary roadside rubbish bins, says the association.
Furthermore, they suggested that a bylaw could include measures such as requiring a deposit for a building licence, which would only be returned if the person concerned proves that the waste from the work has been recycled by an authorised management company; or enabling the council to charge landowners if it has to clear up their plots because they refuse to do so themselves. The association said they hope the council will welcome their proposals and start the required public participation procedures to implement them, ‘so that we can enjoy the clean and healthy town that we all deserve’.