# Separate your garbage Mexico City



## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

From Mexico News Daily....

The city will modify 2,500 garbage trucks to meet the needs of the new law and operators will be instructed to not take trash away if it has not been separated or correctly classified.

Repeat offenders or those found to be dumping trash in public spaces will face fines ranging from 800 to 12,000 pesos depending on the offense and Sedema will seek to police the regulation through unannounced random inspections and by referring guilty parties to the relevant authorities.

Every resident of Mexico City produces on average 1.45 kilograms of waste each day, adding up to more than 12,000 tonnes, according to the National Statistics Institute, Inegi. Only 20% of that is currently


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

...people must divide their waste into three distinct classes: recyclable inorganic waste, unrecyclable inorganic waste and organic waste..."

We have lived in communities - both in the US and Mexico - where recycling was encouraged. (not currently). I think we were asked to separate glass from paper from plastic. For us that amounted to having bins in the garage. When we emptied a bottle of wine it went into the glass box etc. I just can't see the average Mexico City resident having all these various bins in the apartments. And even then - I can't see them making the numerous trips to the curb to get rid of their compartmentalized trash. What I think might work is a collection area where you contribute your recyclables. Only trouble is - no one wants those collection areas outside their door...


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

I will say this - our favorite eating hole in Mexico City has, for a long time, had organic and inorganic trash bins. They expect the customer to leave the table with their trash. On our last visit they had a person standing at the trash bins to take our trays from us. In that way they could put stuff where they wanted it.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I hope it works better in Mexico City than it did when Guadalajara started something similar about 10 years ago. People were supposed to separate their trash into organic, inorganic, and sanitary (toilet paper, tampons etc). Each had its own color of plastic bag. A few people seemed to do it for a few weeks, then it died completely. 

Guadalajara does have a recycling center. One of the staff members is a young German woman who is funded by the German government for a one year internship working in the Gdl recycling center. The recycling center is only open for two hours on Sunday and two hours on Wednesday.

And Gdl has bins for plastic, metal, paper and other in a lot of the parks now. But they have not even begun to capture a significant fraction of the trash stream. One advantage of a poor country is that lots of people pick through the garbage for valuables. So very little metal, glass or cardboard gets to the garbage dumps.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

It has been that way for as long as I have been here (2009). The trash collectors won't take trash that isn't properly divided into organic and non-organic. No one wants their garbage left un-picked-up!

I think the only new element in this news story is the fines, which I have never heard of and don't seem to be necessary since no one wants their trash left in front of their house. You'd think that's punishment enough but apparently not if the are now levying fines.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

circle110 said:


> It has been that way for as long as I have been here (2009). The trash collectors won't take trash that isn't properly divided into organic and non-organic. No one wants their garbage left un-picked-up!
> 
> I think the only new element in this news story is the fines, which I have never heard of and don't seem to be necessary since no one wants their trash left in front of their house. You'd think that's punishment enough but apparently not if the are now levying fines.


You're lucky you can leave your garbage in front of your house. In Mexico City you have to listen for the "garbage bell", gather together "orgánicos", "no organicos", and"recicables", and then run down the street in hopes that the big bad garbage truck is still there when you arrive.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

Isla Verde said:


> You're lucky you can leave your garbage in front of your house. In Mexico City you have to listen for the "garbage bell", gather together "orgánicos", "no organicos", and"recicables", and then run down the street in hopes that the big bad garbage truck is still there when you arrive.


No, I just didn't write it very clearly. It's the same way here. It's just that my wife's family puts it right inside their zaguan on garbage day until they take it out to the truck. If it gets rejected they have to haul it all back inside again.

Here in Magdalena Contreras there are no "reciclables". I wonder if that is a delegación by delegación thing?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

The bell is a good thing although inconvenient.. In Ajijic there is no bells and the garbage gets picked when it gets picked up, the dogs get into it and it is a filthy mess. 
In San Cristobal the garbage at y house comes between 6 and 6.30 in the morning..It is a pain to have to take it out at that time but we have no garbage piling up.. everything is a trade off.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

In Guanajuato they came twice a week at roughly the same hour, 6:30 pm, so that was easy to deal with. We could take it out at 5:30 or so and there was not enough time for critters to get into it.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

I was watching _Canal Once_ last week when they were talking about this new garbage separation program. In addition to having households separate their garbage into 
1. Organic 
2. Inorganic Recyclable 
3. Inorganic Non-Recyclable
they are now adding in collection every Sunday of 
4. Large volume items, such as sofas, beds, etc.,
which previously were not collected (and far too often were just dumped wherever)

A couple of other interesting tidbits they mentioned:

- Garbage collectors already do a significant amount of separation as they pick up the garbage, given the commercial value of recyclable materials. By having the garbage already separated at curbside, there should be a lot less waste / contamination of the recyclables.

- The nonorganic, nonrecyclable garbage will eventually be processed in a plant to convert it into energy to run the Metro system

Of course it will take time to change the culture of throwing everything into the same bag, but with adequate education and the disincentive of not having your garbage picked up, people will learn. In addition to promoting this new program through mainstream media, they are also using social media, a "Basura Cero" app, etc.


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