Solid waste collection in Las Tunas is a complex issue. The main municipality, to cite the most prominent example, generates 33,200 cubic meters each month. Of this volume, 86.2 percent, which is far from being a small figure, is collected by animal traction.
If we add to this the increase in social indiscipline, which includes the dumping of waste after hours, in places not designed for that purpose, and other evils, the situation becomes, at times, unbearable.
The wagoners are, therefore, key figures in the imperative of keeping the city and its surroundings clean. Of the 247 that are needed for the success of this task in the city, only 101 currently circulate data that illustrate, without requiring further analysis, the complexity of the daily panorama.
INSIDE LOOKS
The main cause of the instability of this force is the non-conformity they have with the existing tax regime. This is what the experts explained to 26.
Moreover, they said that now they will pass to the normal regime, which raises the amount of the patent, the Social Security and, at the end of the year, they will have to pay a tax of 15 percent of the total income earned.
When talking to the wagoners, the issue continues to add to their dissatisfaction. Because they speak openly about the cost of maintaining the grass for feeding the horses, and the honey, which is not commercialized and they have to do "wonders" with it. They abound in the price of the ironworks and other accessories for the pachanga to work and even of irregularities with the punctual tariffs of one or another month of work.
To this, they add that Community Services is an entity that pays them for a service that they provide as self-employed, that is, they do not have access to sold work clothes, gloves, or rubber boots, even if they exist in their warehouses, because it is established that they must guarantee by themselves the resources to carry out their work.
On the other hand, competition from the private sector is tempting. Look," a driver in his sixties tells me as he drives down Martí Street in the morning, "I stopped working with Community Services and I've done much better.
"I got rid of walking around all day full of garbage, with the risk of getting sick because among the waste there are many things that can be harmful and they check your papers over and over again. Now, with a couple of good runs during the day, or throwing debris from a construction site, I get by fine.
"Besides, the non-state businesses are getting to know me and they call me to transport products; by 3:00 in the afternoon I'm at home, I earn more and I sweat less.
The company's directors, who are well aware of this reality, are looking for alternatives that include speeding up the procedures and operating licenses for those interested in supporting garbage collection. They also explain that in a second moment, the tax regime that is being initiated will be left to the relevant authorities at the provincial level, and that would give each terroir the chance to make changes in this sense.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS COIN
Raúl Ernesto Martínez Rodríguez, Deputy Director of Hygiene and Necrology in the Provincial Directorate of Municipalities, dominates this plot. He usually goes around the city to accompany, first hand, the cleaning process and knows that, to the evident problems of lack of resources, social indiscipline is constantly added.
"We are working on a new system that will allow us to pay in a staggered, progressive manner and try to incentivize the salary more. The coefficient of technical availability of mechanized equipment is very low right now and that is why animal traction will continue to be vital to keep this locality neat."
"On some dates, it has been necessary for the cart drivers to travel at night, or in the early morning so that everything is clean at dawn because a lot of dirt accumulates. We work constantly, and very hard."
"Likewise, we are establishing linkages with other entities that can help us with transportation and we would provide the labor force. With the mechanized part, we prioritize the Health and Education sectors, so as not to take the cart drivers out of each of their areas."
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The experts assure that about 70 percent of the solid waste that accumulates in Las Tunas is from constructions, pruning in yards, and from sources of generation and solid waste that should be looked for a way to evacuate in another way.
They insist that dumping in any corner, at non-established times, is a constant dilemma and that, on many occasions, the person who dumps this waste does not care if it is very close to a school, a children's center, or a health area. This is how micro dumps are born, which become home to rodents and stench.
Hopefully, you are not one of those who act in such an unconscious way. Only if we all understand this, we will return to being a clean city, very clean. Something that is not achieved with one-day posters, but with daily effort, from all the work fronts.
