Holbox, Q.R. — The island’s garbage collection and deposit situation continues with the dump remaining partially shut. The Holbox garbage dump remains partially closed since it lacks an agreement with the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa).
The Lázaro Cárdenas City Council had the site closed by Profepa on June 2 after accusations that garbage from the site, which was reportedly removed to clean the area, had been buried in mangroves and not incinerated as claimed. While an investigation continues, the dump remains partially closed.
Mayor-elect, Emir Bellos, acknowledged that they are without a plan to solve the problem of collection and final disposal of the island’s waste.
“I would like to tell you the solution, but I am going to go off on a tangent to your question: I don’t have it,” admitted the mayor-elect after a press conference. The island of Holbox is generating approximately 50 tons of garbage per day due to the current high holiday season.
With the partial suspension of the dump, the town is forced to remove any deposited garbage within seven days.
Without disclosing names, Bellos said that there are three companies analyzing a solution to the problem, any of which could take over the collection and depositing of the island waste.
The current Lázaro Cárdenas mayor, Nivardo Mena says they will not collect garbage until the legal issue of the closure is resolved, explaining that garbage trucks can collect and deposit the waste, but have to remove it within a period of seven days, a cost, Mena says, is high since the garbage needs to leave the island via ferries.
According to Mena, there are no resources with which to pay for the service, since residents stopped paying sanitation taxes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
