Minutes of the OVFC meeting at the Town Hall: recycling & rubbish collection failings

• Meeting Date: 20th October 2025
• OVFC representatives present: Margaret Hales, Paul Davies, Marianne Pätzold
• Town Council representatives present: Miguel Angel García (Mayor), Javier Cabrera Colomer (Councillor for New Technologies, Digital Transformation, Transparency, Sports, Agriculture and Waste), Ignasi Cervera Arbona (Technical Director for Urban Services and the Environment)

Main topic: Problems with recycling after the redistribution of bins in Cumbre del Sol and problems with waste collection during the festivities and holiday season in July and August.

OVFC states that the biggest problem is that the population quadrupled in summer. Many properties are rented out to tourists during the summer. Therefore, the responsibility for communicating about recycling lies with the owners. In the case of communities and Pueblos, owners can be informed through the administrators, but for villa owners this is not an option. Visitors have no commitment to Benitatxell. Foreigners have different experiences with recycling rules and bin colours. They do not know where to find information about the new system. The map published in some places is meaningless to a visitor. The village holds a two-week festival in July and there are not enough rubbish collections in Cumbre del Sol to meet the needs of the volume of visitors, as they all arrive at the same time. The door-to-door collection system in other areas of Benitatxell requires more staff. Even after consultations the situation in Vistamar still needs a solution.

Suggested solutions:

Leaflets explaining the bins, their colours and their location are needed. Wide distribution of the leaflets, including at the two post boxes. Extensive publicity, similar to that in the village, via social media and radio, as well as public posters in the OAC Centre, the library, the new market, etc. A poster on each bin explaining the permitted contents. OVFC provides examples of these posters that are used in other municipalities. A sign indicating the location of the collection platform at the north entrance and in Lirios. A practical demonstration of recycling at the El Puig Building, possibly with Espacio Amigos. Additional staff should be hired during the July festivities.

Councillor Javier replies that initially there are no plans to place information posters on each bin, but rather a large poster on each platform with all the information. They are preparing a leaflet in collaboration with Consorci Mare, but they need to reach people, especially owners of tourist accommodation, so that they can inform their tenants about recycling. He thinks the suggestion to hold a recycling demonstration at the El Puig building is a good idea. He explains that the large platforms at Pueblo de la Paz, Entrada Norte, Lirios and Kalmias wiil be enclosed with fencing by the end of the year, but at the moment the gates will remain open. Signs can be placed at the north entrance and in Lirios indicating the recycling platforms. At the moment, there are no plans to introduce organic waste collection in Cumbre del Sol, because the experiences with this in the village have not been very good. According to Javier, during the holiday season and local festivals, no collection service employees are allowed to take holidays. The working day in summer is even longer than in winter. At this point, the Mayor intervenes and says that he was quite upset by our open letter about the rubbish problems. The redistribution of bins had just been carried out and it was normal that there would be problems. The bins for general waste were emptied every day and there were only problems with the plastic and paper bins. Therefore, at no time  there was any health problem. Councillor Javier goes on to explain that there are plans to install cameras at problem areas before the coming summer and to increase the frequency of plastic and paper collections.

To resolve the problems with the rubbish that occurred during the summer at Vistamar, an agreement has been reached with the administrators to return the bins to their previous location at the end of Calle Vistamar. The Town Hall is awaiting final authorisation from the administrators.

It was agreed: 

• A test will be carried out on some platforms by placing different explanatory posters on each of the containers. OVFV suggests the Pueblo de la Paz and Montecala platforms and monitoring these points for a month to see the results.
• An informative meeting about recycling with demonstrations and citizen participation will be organised at the El Puig Building (through the Espacio Amigos Project).
• The frequency of plastic and paper collection will be increased in summer.
• The Town Hall will try to involve the administrators of the Pueblos in distributing information about recycling.

OVFC took the opportunity to present the Mayor the results of the survey recently conducted among our blog subscribers. 

• The Mayor says he finds it surprising that the most voted item is the rehabilitation of the Lirios Shopping Centre and that if this is what people are most concerned about, they must generally be happy. He says that the subject is being looked at.
• Street cleaning was the second most voted point in the survey. The Mayor confirms that since 15 October, two people are working full-time cleaning the streets of Cumbre del Sol.
• The Mayor says that some of the other improvements requested in the survey are already planned and that he thinks people are generally quite happy. He wants to achieve excellence in Cumbre del Sol and believes that we are very close to this.