Background

The municipalities of China and General Bravo provide trash pickup and street sweeping services in their respective communities. As is customary in Mexico, the operating costs of these services are covered out of their General Funds. However, given the limited finances of both municipalities, the local governments have had to rely on old equipment which they have been unable to adequately maintain.

In addition, neither municipality has a solid waste disposal management program. Consequently, collected garbage is taken outside the town limits and simply dumped in open-air sites that have not been adequately prepared and are not properly operated to protect the environment from contamination. Moreover, these city dumpsites have been filled far
beyond their capacity, which has given rise to illegal dumping.

Originally, each community intended to build its own sanitary landfill; however, these plans were determined to be unaffordable. To reduce costs, the two municipalities decided to join forces and build a regional landfill and utility that would provide service to both communities.
Once this decision was made two years ago, the municipalities began coordinating their solid waste operations and services.

Description

China and General Bravo proposed a comprehensive project that covers all aspects of providing municipal sanitation services to both communities. The main components of the Project are:

• Establishment of a decentralized utility to manage and operate sanitation services for both municipalities, including street sweeping, garbage collection and final disposal of municipalwaste in a sanitary landfill; 
• Construction of a regional landfill, including the acquisition of the land in China and all the infrastructure and equipment necessary for its proper operation; and
• Closure of the current open-air dumps in both municipalities in
  accordance with Mexican environmental regulations.

In addition, improvements will be made in the quality, coverage and efficiency of manual sweeping and garbage collection services, with new routes, extended schedules, increased frequency, personnel training and the purchase of new equipment.

However, one of the most significant goals of the Project is to institutionalize the fees paid by customers and establish a rate structure that will permit China and General Bravo to generate sufficient revenues to cover all operation and maintenance costs. As part of this effort, the municipalities have implemented an educational campaign to explain the
environmental benefits of the project and the need for rates, so residents will pay the new fees instead of tipping the trash collectors.

Benefits

Proper solid waste management, as well as the closing of the current open-air dumps will reduce the contamination of soil, air and groundwater resources and thus help protect the health and well-being of local residents. In addition, by sharing a single regional facility,
operation and maintenance costs will be much more affordable for residents of both communities.