Who is Ignorant about the Poor Cleaning of Orihuela?

Following the highlighting, by Los Verdes, of the problems being experienced by the residents of the Orihuela Municipality since the start of the new cleaning contract (1st May) by UTE, the PP Councillor for Infrastructure (including services) Sr. Manuel Abadía has responded as reported in 'informacion.es' and 'laverdad.es'.



He said that the statements made by Los Verdes were out of “ignorance” of the situation and said they should not report deficiencies only 20 days into the new contract.



He referred to the promised one off 'In-depth Cleaning' exercise (including removal of graffiti, chewing gum and the such like from the streets) stating that it will be starting on the 1st June.

In reply to the statements by Sr. Abadía, as reported in información.es, Los Verdes have to say that ignorance of the situation that is causing the poor performance of the new contract for rubbish collection and street cleaning is on the part of the Councillor.

He does not seem to be aware that the new proposed underground rubbish containers are not functioning yet. He seems to have forgotten that the management of the new contractor stated that the 'In-depth Cleaning' would be carried out from the start of the new contract on the 1st May.

He probably doesn't know that the Mayoress, Sra. Monica Lorente, said at the presentation awarding the new contract that the new equipment “would have the capacity in twenty seconds to clean an entire urbanisation”, a statement more appropriate to a character in a fantasy story than a supposed manager of the Orihuela Municipality.



Sr. Abadía seems to be more the manager of the new contractor, by the defence he makes for such a deficient cleaning service, than a Councillor of Orihuela who should be obtaining and demanding the best service for the rubbish collection and street cleaning for the good of all the citizens.

He chooses to ignore the fact that when the contract started on the 1st May it was 4 months behind schedule and that the company has had plenty of time to become aware of the needs of the Municipality.

He needs to appreciate that the statements and observations made by Los Verdes are as a result of listening to the comments and criticisms made by residents about the new service. Only by making the Councillor and his department aware of the failures in the service will changes and corrections happen.



A additional question that Sr. Abadía should be asking the contractor is when and where will Orihuela Costa be getting the missing new 120 'Recycling Points' in accordance with the terms of the contract like those already installed in Orihuela Town? Is this preferential treatment for Orihuela again?



The ignorance and statements of Sr. Abadía show his abominable management as leader
of the Council Department of infrastructure and again the failure of Mónica Lorente and the Orihuela PP.

New Rubbish Collection Service - Is it Better?

The Los Verdes party of Orihuela report that twenty days after the commencement of the new contract for the collection of household rubbish and street cleaning, it can be seen that the new service does not take into account the specific needs in respect of these two services in the municipality

In the Coast it is hard to see what has been done for the street cleaning. The old rubbish bins appear to be abandoned, left in the middle of the streets and we are in a high density tourist area (the photographs shown are in the majority of the Campoamor area). Many of them have not been emptied, are full and smell badly. Where there were four bins there is now only one larger bin but this is not sufficient. The result is that bags of rubbish are scattered in the street and not always collected. In the commercial centres the upturned old bins are mixed with the new ones which are full with rubbish bags crowded around them. In the Agua Marina commercial centre area the old bins remain and it isn't known if these are emptied because they are always overflowing with rubbish.

The collection of green garden rubbish continues as before, with rubbish left in the streets or next to the bins for weeks. The dumped building rubbish from small building or alteration work remains in the streets. Nobody knows where to take it except to leave it in the streets.


The company awarded the contract was perfectly aware when the contract began how many containers were needed. They were also aware that they must remove the old containers, not just put a new one and that's it. Well, no, at this time the new contractor works as the previous ones had done; badly.


Los Verdes regret that regarding the recycling of rubbish nothing has changed, everything is more of the same. The residents will have no choice but to find where each recycling container is, because they are not all together, each is located in a different area. Therefore those residents who want to separate their waste so that it can be recycled will have to be patient and find recycle bins in certain places on the Coast, it may be a long way. It is unfortunate that so far, and after going through many neighbourhoods, we have not seen any new 'Cleaning Points' (recycling bin sites) on the Coast


So it goes. We were led to believe it would all change for the better and that we would get a good value for money service for the taxes we pay.

The question is: What has changed for the better and for whom has it changed for the better?

Edited 20.05.2009
Articles: La Verdad.es & Informacion.es