Friday 14th July 2017
The Police issues 38 reports for abandoning waste, pouring water or leaving cardboard outside the place and time between January and June
The information campaign against the abandonment of cardboard reverts in an improvement in certain points of the municipality
The Department of Inspection and infractions of Calvià Town Hall has received, between January and June this year, 38 infraction reports isssued by the Local Police, for leaving residues where there are no containers, for fecal water disposals, or for leaving cardboard out of the place and time allowed in "P areas" or first lines.
In their function of monitoring the compliance with the municipal waste collection ordinance, the local police of Calvià officers investigate environmental infractions. Sometimes, on their own initiative; other times, after having been notified by cleaning operators of Calvià 2000; or after receiving complaints from the citizens of the municipality.
Of the total number of records, three have been due to faecal discharges by hotel establishments or neighboring communities; at least two have been issued after having verified the authorship of waste discharges in rural areas; and the rest of reports have been issued after investigating and verifying the abandonment of cardboard on the public road, especially in "P areas" (beach first lines and borders), for leaving waste in the street, or for infractions such as leaving residues in places where it is prohibited and / or outside the allowed hours.
These data have been communicated by Andreu Serra, the first deputy mayor of Calvià Town Hall and president of the public company Calvià 2000 for waste collection, cleaning and water treatment, following the follow-up meeting held with those responsible for the environmental department of the aforementioned company and with the team of municipal coordinators.
Improvement on black spots
This meeting has taken stock of the information campaign, begun in May this year, through which the regulations governing the collection of waste have been brought to the attention of the commercial and catering establishments in the P areas of Calvià. The campaign consisted of a door-to-door visit to those responsible for these businesses; firstly, representatives of catering and trade associations accompanied by Calvià 2000 workers and subsequently by the coordinators.
The people of the coordinator team have been able to verify that the black spots of abandonment of cardboard and other residues in P areas have improved after the campaign, leaving a lower volume of waste. Specifically, specific areas have been visited in Palmanova and Magaluf - during the information campaign, reporting the Police, and after the campaign - in which the accumulation of cardboard has practically disappeared. However, police and neighborhood surveillance must continue, to further improve the image of the municipality.
In a second stage of the information campaign, the police surveillance work has been intensified, as well as the complaints from Calvià 2000 workers and anonymous citizens. It should be recalled that the infringements by discharges are classified as serious and very serious, so that authors can be charged with penalties ranging from 901 to 45,000 € in the case of serious, and from 45,000 to 301,000 € in the case of very serious infringements.
The abandonment of waste could also break the Law 22/2011 on waste and contaminated soils, which establishes fines, in the case of very serious infringements (abandonment entailing a serious danger or damage to human health, serious deterioration of the environment, hazardous waste or dumping in protected areas), from 45,001 to 1,750,000 euros.