The Campaign to date

Let me begin this first post by apologising for the length of it, but it’s necessary to detail the history to date.

The launch of the campaign was made at a press conference held in Orihuela Costa on the 26^th march 2008. Between the 28^th march 2008 and the 4^th April 2008 the local non-Spanish papers (Costa Blanca Nachricten, Leader, Coastrider, Roundtown News, and Costa Blanca News) published articles about the campaign. On the 9^th April 2008 and second press conference was held, but this time in Orihuela, to bring the campaign to the attention of the Spanish media (papers, radio, and television) with coverage in the Orihuela Municipality.

The following is the Press Release issued on the 26^th March 2008.

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Los Verdes (The Green Party) of Orihuela - Press Release.

No More Fly-Tipping – Clean up the Costa.

Fly-tipping, the act of illegal dumping large amounts of rubbish such as building waste, furniture, white goods and other such items on any land or street, is the scourge and blight on the environment, effecting both the urban and countryside areas alike in the Orihuela Costa region.

Los Verdes (The Green Party) are launching a Campaign to make the Orihuela Ayuntamiento aware of the locations of the many Fly-tipping sites that are ruining and damaging the quality of the environment, the quality of life of the inhabitants of the area, and ultimately the economic future of the area.

The aim of the Campaign is to supply the PP Council, through the office of the Councillor for the Coast, José A. Aniorte Grau, with photographs and specific location details of all the illegal, ugly, and dirty Fly-tipping sites within the Orihuela Costa area.

This will hopefully be the shove that the PP Council needs to act to honour its duty, to maintain the environment in a clean and natural condition. This will be a reminder to them of their need to rectify their failure of duty of care to the environment and the inhabitants of Orihuela Costa, and if they choose not to act, as they have failed to in the past, we will name and shame them by all the means available to us, including our Councillors raising this matter in future Council meetings.

To ensure the Campaign is as successful as possible Los Verdes (The Green Party) need the help and involvement of all the Inhabitants of Orihuela Costa. We need to work as a team.

We are asking Residents to send us photographs of any illegal Fly-tipping sites that they are aware of in the area, along with the details of the exact location and the date the photograph was taken. If they see actual acts of illegal dumping taking place, to take a photograph, so long as they do not put themselves in danger, showing details of the vehicle and business name if possible, if it’s a company vehicle.

The photographs and details should be sent by email to – losverdesorihuela@yahoo.es with the subject title of “Fly-tipping”. Los Verdes (The Green Party) will collate all the information received and will forward it to the Council for them to act as they should, to clean up the areas, and to take action to stop it happening again.

We also ask the local papers to help with the Campaign, by forwarding any photographs and information that they receive from residents, if this is easier for some of their readers, to us at the Los Verdes (Green Party) email address, and also by allocating a small area of space in their publications, as a type of name and shame gallery. This could include both sites where Fly-tipping has occurred and not been cleaned up, but also any pictures of culprits carrying out illegal dumping.

We do not want to live within an illegal landfill site, to be surrounded by, and have to live amongst the filth created by Fly-tippers and ignored by the Council!

Los Verdes (The Green Party) ask for the help and involvement of the inhabitants, of the coast, to force the PP Council to honour its responsibility to keep Orihuela Costa clean and a fit place to live!

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The response by the residents of Orihuela Costa was excellent.

On the 16^th April 2008 a list was drawn up of 30 sites where rubbish had been illegally dumped.

On the 17^th April 2008 this list, supported with photographs, was presented to the Partido Popular Councillor for the Coast, José A. Aniorte Grau, at a meeting at which Los Verdes (The Green Party) were represented by our Councillor for the Coast, Monserrate Guillén, supported by members of our working group for Orihuela Costa. Between this date and the launch of the campaign Sr. Aniorte had already been made aware of the location of some of the sites, through photographs published by the media in papers and on websites, and the council had begun to clean up some of the rubbish.

The result of the meeting was that Los Verdes were assured by Councillor Aniorte on behalf of the ruling PP Council, that all the sites on the list, that are on public land, would be cleaned up within a period of three weeks from the 17^th April 2008, but that there isn’t any Council Byelaw (Ordenanza Municipal) in existence within the municipality to be able to ensure a clean up of fly-tipping on private property at this time.

The situation that there isn’t any Byelaw in relation to the problem of Fly-tipping is unacceptable. Los Verdes will continue to push the PP ruled Council to draw up and present to the Pleno (Council Meeting), for approval, the required Byelaws.

Two days after the meeting with Sr Aniorte, Los Verdes received emails from a few of those who had contributed to the campaign, by sending us photographs of fly-tipping sites, to confirm that the council were starting to honour their duty of cleaning up the rubbish.

On the 24^th April 2008 an email was received from Javier Canovas, assesor (advisor) to Sr Aniorte to confirm receipt of the list of sites and to confirm action taken as at that date.

On the 29^th April 2008 an email was issued by S Pokroppa, an asesor appointed by the PP, on behalf of the Ayuntamiento as a direct response to the campaign. The text of the email was to tell the residents that the town hall is starting an initiative to clean up the fly-tipping, and that it wants the residents to either telephone, or visit the Ayuntamiento, to report if Fl-tipping is taking place. The residents are advised in the email that “Bringing these problems to the newspapers will not solve the problems and will only delay their eventual resolution”. To some residents this comment has been seen as a veiled threat by the PP.

On the 6^th May 2008 an open meeting was held at the Celtic Isle in Playa Flamenca, Orihuela Costa, to outline the progress of the campaign up-to-date and discuss future action.

The following article appeared in the Leader newspaper http://www.costablancaleader.com/news/article.php?article_id=15286&article_section_id=1 .

“Green Party Propose Citizens’ Participation for Clean Up
By Sally Bengtsson

(Published: 11/05/2008 Edition No.: 211)

The Green Party held a ‘Clean up the Costas’ meeting last Tuesday, May 5th in a bid to put together a plan of action to get the area looking more pristine and attractive.

Los Verdes are the third largest party in Orihuela, with three councillors. They initiated the ‘No More Fly Tipping’ campaign a few weeks ago after becoming fed up of living in squalor and tired of waiting for the PP to eradicate the problem. The campaign was taken up with so much vigour by local residents that it became apparent that people felt very strongly about the filth all around them.

On March 31st the front page story in the ‘Leader’ about the campaign acted as a catalyst, with hundreds of readers sending in photos of fly tipping sites. The reaction was so strong that a press conference was called on April 9th, which was covered by Spanish media, and newspaper websites; the problem becoming visible for the whole world to see.

According to Elliot Sampford, the party spokesman, “The local government was obviously not happy with the widespread publicity and could not bury their head in the sand any longer. After being in power for 20 years they have finally decided to start cleaning certain sites up.”

The main problem appears to be that fly tipping is not illegal in Orihuela Costa, there is no by law like those that exist in neighbouring municipalities such as Torrevieja or Pilar de la Horadada, which forbids fly tipping.

However, the comments which came from those present at the meeting were that “We don’t want to live in a land fill site, we want to live on clean streets. We are not rats.” Another person commented on the fact that the mess is depressing and that visitors have to pass the rubbish. Other complaints were that the bin men should sweep up any rubbish they spill after emptying the bins.

It seems that the root of the problem is that in the whole of Orihuela municipality there is no eco park, and no where for builders to dispose of their rubble, hence people dumping their rubbish late at night, on waste land.

The Green Party then went on to suggest we take up a project which has worked very successfully in the UK. Basically the idea is for residents to participate in keeping an area clean, in conjunction with the local council. It involves a small amount of people’s time, but makes a world of difference. One idea is for the council to provide skips free of charge and the residents provide the labour to clean up an area.

One local resident commented at the meeting that in one road they had cleaned up a plot of wasteland and once it was clean, people stopped dumping rubbish on it, so it did stay clean. Another resident commented on the fact that there is a proven correlation between clean areas and a drop in crime. One lady had another idea. She had stood in her local park and given out doggy bags to all the dog walkers passing by. This had made a huge difference to the state of the park and people had continued to pick up their dog excrement ever since.

It appears that small actions can result in big change. It is no good sitting back and complaining, which we Brits in general are very good at doing. As Elliot mentioned, Orihuela Costa is a huge area and the Town Hall alone cannot solve all the problems alone. We all need to play a positive role in improving the area. “When you see some rubbish in the road, pick it up and dispose of it.”

The Green Party suggested people send in to their web site before and after photos of areas which have been cleaned.

Another suggestion was to encourage people to recycle for the good of the whole world, through education. In other areas of Spain orange groves have been adopted by locals, who maintain them and reap the rewards in oranges.”

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Work is now in progress to plan and launch the next stages of the campaign.

I think that brings this history up-to-date, but I’m bound to have forgotten something.