Holbox, Q.R. — City Council members have approved the start of a process that will provide a 15-year public services concession for the island of Holbox. On Friday, members of the Cabildo of Lázaro Cárdenas approved a majority vote that will see the cleaning, collecting and transporting of its solid waste.
It was agreed that garbage from Holbox will be transferred to the Kantunilkín sanitary landfill in order to put an end to the open-air garbage dump that their transfer site has become.
After the city council session, four councilors voted against the concession, not agreeing that the island’s garbage should be transferred to Kantunilkin, arguing that the landfill is already full.
Despite the arguments, the majority of councilors approved the start of the process for a 15-year garbage collection concession that will finally see the island’s transfer site emptied.
Mayor Emir Bellos Tun explained that it was necessary to move forward under this scheme in order to attract investment from a company dedicated to this type of work.
“We have to make it clear that the City Council does not have collection trucks or the infrastructure for the final disposal of solid waste generated by both the residents and the tourists who come to Holbox. That is why it is necessary to have a concession for the waste,” he said.
Bellos explained that they only have around 20 million peso a year allocated for garbage collection, a figure that is not enough to cover the expenses for the more than 20 tons collected daily during low tourist season. He says during the high tourist season, they see an increase of 50 percent in solid waste collection.
The Council of the City Council of Lázaro Cárdenas did not say how long the process of the new garbage collection will take, nor did they say when the island’s garbage will be moved from the transfer site to the mainland. They did state that the process to put the new vote to tender will be done within the next few weeks.
