Mayor recycles trash in San José las Matas

The management of solid wastes in Dominican cities has always been "a headache" for the municipal authorities and the citizenry. Even the improvement of income in councils, from their financial autonomy, since 1997, has meant an important change in this situation.

The two main cities of the country are examples of this problem.

Much we talk about garbage is source of wealth and important commodity for a wide variety of products and services, from manure to generate electricity, but positive management results are still very limited.

The municipality of San José de las Matas is moving in a project of management of waste with results and prospects very halagüenas.

Mayor of this mountain town, from its beginning in August 2010, launched the "Zero waste" program to convert the city into a model in the management of waste, already achieving u000aproper control maintained clean population and a high degree of integration of the municipal environmental plan and health.

The Mayor Jorge Luis Bisonó (Yoryi) talks about the international cooperation achieved in the implementation of the programme which also includes the municipal districts, rural areas and cleaning and permanent monitoring of all sources of water which are born or pass through this town, which territory is so large or more than the rest of the Santiago province, including the municipality seat.

The building official said that the German cooperation provided funds by about five million pesos and an important technical assistance, especially an Ecuadorian citizen who did an excellent job for the management of the landfill, the classification of waste and preparation of staff.

Support
also has an endorsement by the European Union of a Fund of 246 thousand euros, which is u000aHe started the first disbursement for the construction of a landfill model to manage the waste, and a Centre for collection, to produce fertilizer that will be sold to the Sierra Plan and others productive.

"The urban municipality seat part generates daily twelve tons of solid waste are classified by families and business between the organic and the inorganic, to give use according to their characteristics and also the trash that comes from outside of the village is classified to enter the trucks," said Jorge Luis Bisonó.

The Mayor specifies that when the program is operating fully, dumped model won't or 15 percent of the waste produced in the municipality, as the organized trash will be used to produce compost, while glass, plastics and metals will be marketed.

Said that he doesn't have the necessary trucks, but that with the funds of the European Union u000athink of buying one in the next few days.

Education citizen
to establish this project trash zero, by the Edilicia Corporation, model is essential to achieve the education for citizenship for the management of solid waste in homes and businesses. This programme leaves with difficulties, as any change of culture and custom, but a good pace.

Was created for these purposes the unit environmental Municipal (UAM), directed by Esther Estévez, responsible for the process with the use of various methods and resources, as well as visits to homes, businesses and productive enterprises, becoming the message spoken and written about the need for packaging wastes according to its feature, give it to the truck or depositing it in tanks installed in various places.

Estevez shows documents in the form of leaflets and leaves which are distributed and together with his assistant Ana Santana, have visited more than two thousand houses and 367 business u000ato take the guidance to the entire population, which receives vessels with colors and other characteristics to trace organic waste and inorganic.

The Director of the UAM specifies that citizenship education programme also includes schools, so that students develop awareness on the importance of cleaning and the handling of waste, which also promote the creation of school to produce gardens which used the compost from garbage.

Her works cited a contest held on Christmas day last among the sectors with the best management of the collection and disposal of garbage, which demonstrated the level of consciousness gained by citizens, in particular of the children.

In that aspect, the Mayor added that seven areas in which the matero people is divided, in three there is full awareness of the management of waste and in others there is good progress, u000aAlthough recognizes that it has not lacked the "torpedoing" by political sectarianism and other factors in some nuclei, which expected to be surpassed.

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Program covers the districts municipal
the program zero waste is not limited to the main town of the municipality, but extends to the municipal districts of the Placeta, blonde and possibly la Cuesta, as well as cooperate with Savannah Church where they develop the same measures of management and classification of waste to take advantage and combat pollution.

The Mayor of San José de las Matas reported that in the Placeta program already has a great development with effective education and awareness of the community for the classification and way of depositing waste in containers and gatherers trucks. This Community travel weekly a truck from Santiago to purchase bottles collected.

Jorge Luis Bisonó expressed throughout the u000amunicipality and also in Jánico and DBFO there are 220 trained volunteers engaged in monitoring, clean and evaluating rivers, streams cañadas, to combat any degree of pollution they submit, that receive waste from phosphate emitting greenhouses and livestock.

Bisonó pointed out that this work is part of the project of dominico-alemana cooperation, with the support of environment.

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