ISSUE 621 • 26th January - 1 st February 2018
EST 2005
Power to the people EXCLUSIVE
THE town hall of Garrucha has begun cleaning up a huge waste pile in the region thanks to a Facebook appeal. Donna Parsons, originally from Wiltshire, first saw a Facebook post by fellow Brit Jacqui Minns in a local forum group asking for advice after finding a huge pile of waste close to Tanatoria. It is believed that the pile of waste was caused due to fly-tipping in the area. After coordinating, the pair got in contact with the Medio Ambiente, who has now reportedly said that they are committed to cleaning up the mess. Ms Parsons, who n o w l i v e s i n Ve r a Playa but has lived in the region for 18 years, told the Sol Times: “I first found out about the fly-tipping from a Facebook
JACQUI MINNS/FACEBOOK
By Benjamin Park and Jay Emeny
RUBBISH: The huge pile of waste was discovered close to Tanatoria. post on Mojacar Forum. “I offered help to contact the necessar y parties to get it cleaned up. “I emailed Medio Ambiente in Almeria a n d G a r r u c h a To w n Hall and the Medio Ambiente called me the very next day. “They thanked us for bringing it to their attention and told me they were going to contact the Local Police at Garrucha Town Hall. “Medio-Ambiente messaged me yesterday saying (that the)
G a r r u c h a To w n H a l l has committed to cleaning the rubbish up.” And an official of the town hall has now confirmed that a clean-up operation is underway. H e s a i d : “ We w e r e not aware of the problem until we were contacted by Ms Parsons via email.
“ Wo r k b e g a n a s soon as we received images of the area. “The waste is still not cleared, but once it has all been removed we will look into putting up a fence around the area and potentially CCTV as well, so that it is harder for people to drive in and dump their waste.”