Asunción’s garbage crisis: Sole Núñez unveils plan to tackle illegal dumps

Soledad Núñez arrived outside Asunción’s municipal headquarters carrying bags of garbage collected from different neighborhoods. The opposition mayoral candidate used them to denounce what she called the collapse of the city’s waste collection system.

Núñez said illegal dumps had spread across streets, sidewalks and plazas because of inefficiency, neglect and a lack of oversight by the current municipal administration. She said the problem affected the entire capital and described the situation as a health, environmental and security emergency.

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Illegal dumping appears when the formal system does not work. Today we have an old, inefficient and uncontrolled collection system.

“Illegal dumping appears when the formal system does not work. Today we have an old, inefficient and uncontrolled collection system,” Núñez said.

She also alleged irregularities in the municipality’s use of resources, including the diversion of operating supplies. “That is why liters of fuel are stolen from our collection trucks. Fuel for collecting garbage is now being used in political campaigning,” she said.

Núñez criticized the condition of the city’s cleaning fleet. She said she had visited the municipal surplus unit and found relatively new 2019 garbage trucks immobilized and stripped for parts.

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That is why liters of fuel are stolen from our collection trucks. Fuel for collecting garbage is now being used in political campaigning.

Her proposed response is a special urban-cleaning team called the “Zero Dump Unit.” She said it would eliminate all illegal dumps within 30 days of a new administration taking office. The plan would also give each critical site a one-time cleanup followed by urban improvements, including lighting, security cameras, public furniture or green spaces.

The proposal includes inspections and penalties for trucks, dump trucks and motorized carts that illegally dispose of waste. Núñez is running for mayor with the Juntos por Asunción opposition coalition in the Oct. 4 municipal elections.

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The first day we start, and in 30 days we will end illegal dumps.