Recycle Committee Report
October, 2009

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  WHILE WE WERE OUT:

  
  

  While most of us were out of Mexico a lot of things happened with Recycling in Lo de Marcos; this report brings everyone up to date.
  
  

  MAY-JUNE
  After one month, Luis Fernando Carrillo, who was collecting and removing plastics from Lo de Marcos at least 2 times a week, became ill and needed to leave Lo for a while.  The same week we heard this bad news, we heard about a grant from SAMARNOT, a State organization who hired twenty local people for three weeks to clean our beach and river banks of garbage before the rainy season.  Amigos organizations in Sayulita and San Pancho had requested a grant from SAMARNOT to assist with recycling programs and included us in their proposal.  The timing was perfect! 
  
  

  JULY-AUGUST
  The Grant awarded (in pesos) $100,000 to each community.  Of the total, $7,000 went to Tepic for administration; $23,000 was to purchase materials and $70,000 for salaries to a minimum of eight Mexican workers, with a focus to hire women.  We purchased material to construct bins and one tricycle to use for collection.  We also purchased “jumbos” – large reusable plastic bags to transport sorted recyclables - and some signs (which we haven’t received yet).  Yajaira Cazarez became President of the three-town Grant Committee and our Committee Chairperson Vicki Schilling became a member of the Board of Riviera Recicla.
  
  

  SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
  Yahaira and her crew are doing an excellent job of keeping the bins emptied, cleaning up around the bins, cleaning the mango grove near the bull ring, the beach and other places where garbage and recycling tend to pile up.  She and her crew work from 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM Monday thru Saturday. 

  The crew sorts plastics into five categories, glass into two or three categories and bundles each into the jumbo bags.  There are usually five jumbos of plastics sorted each week!  The Community is doing an excellent job of recycling and using the bins appropriately.  Until a recent breakdown, the truck belonging to the San Pancho Recycling Center picked up our bagged recyclables twice weekly.  Until the truck is fixed or we find an alternative, things are piling up. 
  
  

   

  WHERE WE ARE NOW:

  
  

  The grant ended the first week in November.  We are very pleased that our Community has taken up the cause of recycling.  There are huge quantities of plastic that are no longer going into the garbage and landfill, being burned in brushfires or floating in the river and ocean. We would love to continue the current program, however we are not sure if there will be additional grants from SAMARNOT or Riviera Nayarit. Our Amigos organization doesn’t have the money to pick up these costs and even if we did, we are not employers. 

  The Recycle Committee met last thursday and agreed on the following:
  Yahaira is looking for funding to continue collecting and cleaning with three paid persons.  Her goal is to make this a self sustaining business.  She is searching for broker/processors to purchase plastic and glass collected from Lo and is considering expanding service to surrounding communities.  She will continue as a member of the Recycling Committee and we will continue to offer volunteer support to recycling in Lo de Marcos.

  Information is forthcoming about a recycling sponsorship program for individuals and businesses.

  Vicki will continue on the Board of Riviera Ricicla to insure our involvement in the recycling education component with the schools and to network with the neighboring Amigo communities for funding sources.
  
  

  The Recycling Committee is pursuing ideas to move our focus to the Reduce and Reuse components of recycling for presentation with our 2010 budget request.