Residents of Colombia's Bucaramanga to separate trash, recyclables

Authorities in Bucaramanga, a city of more than 500,000 residents in north-eastern Colombia, instructed residents of the city and its suburbs to separate recyclables from household waste from 1 July or pay a fine after September, the dailies El Espectador and Vanguardia Liberal reported on 1 July. The decree, applicable from that day, appeared innovative and Colombian media commented on it in preceding days; recyclables like plastic, paper and glass were to be prepared in separate bags for municipal collection once a week, either on Wednesday or Thursday depending on the municipal trash collection routine, the dailies reported. Residents failing to separate would initially be admonished and face fines after 1 September. El Espectador cited the city official Consuelo Ordóñez as saying that the Bucaramanga district produced 58 per cent of all the rubbish in the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, followed by Floridablanca with 20 per cent and Girón with 11 per cent, though no figures were given of trash volumes. Sustainability was one of the 10 components of the current mayor's policy plan for 2012-15.