Havana is an open-air garbage dump, since according to official sources, almost half of the municipal trucks in the Cuban capital are out of service and the rate of garbage production is increasing every day.
According to a report by Granma newspaper, since 2023, Hino brand trucks, manufactured in Japan and crucial for garbage collection in Cuba, began to show breakdowns in parts, pieces and aggregates, with no agile solutions available.
The Japanese supplier has abandoned the island, and now it is very difficult to buy, directly or indirectly, the supplies needed for its repairs. They are hoping that companies on the island will “innovate” to recover some of the Comunales trucks and prevent Havana from continuing to look like an open-air garbage dump.
The provincial director of Communal Waste, Onelio de Jesús Ojeda López, said he was particularly concerned about front loaders for macro-dumps, of which only a third are usable, followed by tractors (45%) and dump trucks (51%).
He also blamed citizens for not complying with the schedule for throwing out garbage, which is between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
“Cooperation is necessary, everyone should throw away waste where they should, because sometimes a state-owned store also throws waste out onto the street, and companies have to keep their surroundings clean,” he insisted.
Havana is a garbage dump and Comunales confirms it
The directors of Communales in Havana, stated that the situation is critical, because in addition to the fact that garbage dumps are proliferating, there is a shortage of labor due to salaries, and many municipalities in the capital do not have directors such as: Arroyo Naranjo, Cerro, Centro Habana, San Miguel del Padrón and Marianao.
“If you don’t have a team that directs the strategy and checks and controls it, it is very difficult to comply with it,” he insisted.
For ordinary Cubans, according to comments on social media, what happens with garbage in Havana “is a vicious circle from which we have not been able to escape for many years, where two main factors come together: the lack of necessary equipment and major social indiscipline.”
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