Municipal stockpiles draw negative attention in Puerto Rico

Household discarded materials collected as recyclable in Guánica, Puerto Rico, have drawn negative scrutiny by critics asking why the material is not leaving the Municipal Public Works department property.

An online news item from the Perla del Sur news organization refers to the material as “a mountain of bags with refuse to be recycled.”

The materials at the Municipal Public Works facility in Guánica were denounced by a local political party’s vice president via the party’s Twitter account, according to the newspaper. The party asks whether Puerto Rico’s Environmental Quality Board should take action on the matter.

The politician Ismael Rodríguez Ramos says workers in the department have told him the problem has been going on for more than a month because the municipality allegedly is “not carrying out the recycling process.”

The problem could stem from a contract that was cancelled in 2015, according to the news article, which has resulted in a former hauler and processor suing the city of Guánica.

Rodríguez Ramos also claims that recyclables formerly had been hauled to a nearby landfill, but the owner of the landfill is awaiting back payments before accepting any more material.