The project created in 2018 has not stopped activities (thanks to volunteers) despite the dissolution of the recycling committee
Team of volunteers working on this project on Saturdays. The project is in El Bajío, on the outskirts of Ajijic. Photo: María del Refugio Reynoso Medina.
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic, Jal.) – Ajijic’s recycling project, which began operating without support from City Hall during 2019, has the support of the new Chapala administration, according to Ajijic’s Encargado de Despacho, Maximiliano “Max” Macías Arceo. He said the project would receive support, transportation and personnel from the municipality.
“The people from the recycling center, who are Americans, have already approached us to ask for support. The truth is that the place (located on the Chapala-Jocotepec highway at El Bajío) is in a deplorable state, the bathrooms do not work and there is a garbage dump. We want to work more closely with them since they help us keep the streets looking good. We will try to reestablish the relationship and lend them a vehicle and an assistant,” Macías Arceo said.
He also said an American company has donated 42 garbage drums, but he does not know how large the drums are. He wants to be sure they are big enough to avoid overflowing, especially due to use by tourists. That could look bad and also hinder collection. On the other hand, he expressed confidence that blue bins, which are used to collect items for recycling, will soon be repaired with the help of Alberto Muñoz Hernández “Beto Rock.”
Thomas Thompson, a volunteer who led the project when it began, told Laguna that the relationship with the past Municipal Government is broken. He said the program has continued because the volunteers have been supporting it unconditionally.
Thomas said the project, which today is sustainable thanks to the sale of cardboard, glass and plastic, manages to pay an employee. From time to time, volunteers are able to set up educational projects for children. Even so, sometimes the resources are not enough because they need to budget for the transfer of recyclable waste from the town to the collection center and then send the materials to recyclers in Guadalajara.
The activist said he and his fellow volunteers have continued for almost four years with the motivation to create a more sustainable world, prevent landfills from filling up with garbage and take advantage of the resources that can be reused.
The recycling project began in 2018, when the former administration of the Municipal Government of Chapala (2018-2021) convened in the main square to form a committee, with Thomas Thompson leading the effort. The project stopped in April 2020; however, it partially resumed work in July of that same year.
Volunteers are accepted on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the bodega located at Chapala-Jocotepec Highway #915 A, in El Bajío.
Translated by Mike Rogers
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