Mismanagement of the garbage disposal at the landfill in Cayo has reached critical levels as the garbage that is being taken to the dump site has backed up all the way to the edge of the Western Highway.
The fill, which services Benque, San Ignacio and Santa Elena has been packed to a point where garbage is spilling out onto the highway between San Ignacio and San Jose Succotz. We today spoke to environmentalist Luis Garcia who told us that it is not the first time the problem has presented itself. Six months ago his organization - The Community Services Alliance- with some funds from Just World Partners, cleared the access road into the fill but the problem has re-appeared.
Garcia blames it on poor management of the landfill site where garbage is not dumped where it is supposed to, instead it is thrown on the access road causing the problem to resurface every few months. Garcia says that he has presented a plan for the proper management of the solid waste but local and central government is not responding to it. An estimated cost for a clean up is some $70,000, which Garcia says he's willing to fund raise for.