I just arrived back on the beach and had my first powow of the season with Pato. I feel so blessed to be back and I'm in awe of the beauty that we get to call our home.
Here's a summary of what I learned in our meeting.
The main recycling depot will be at the school. All proceeds earned by selling plastic, cardboard and metal cans will be used for the school. In order for plastic to be sold, it will have to be separated into 4 different types before it is deposited at the depot. Troncones Limpia is developing a 4 bin system for homes to separate their plastic. Plastics not separated will still be removed from the depot and moved out of Troncones but will not be paid for.
All glass will be given to the Ejido who have plans to develop a glass recycling business. See the pics below as a general example of what can be done with glass bottles. The ejido focus will be on creating mosaic tiles that can be used in building. There will also be experiments done to encourage the use of bottles in our local building projects.
By next low season, Pato hopes to see the recycling pick ups around town be handled by the community since they are keeping the income, and that way TL can focus more on education.
The women in the pueblita receiving gov't assistance will be recognized for their recycling efforts as an action that will keep them in the assitance program.
Ultimately, Pato sees the mothers teaching their children to recycle and will send their kids to school each day with the items to drop off at the school depot. Recycling will become a part of their daily lives.
The new local compost business is going well. Luciano, the founder, was an avid student of the Troncones Limpia composting workshops and has gone ahead, using plant waste and slaughter house waste from La union, to produce compost for sale locally. You may have seen his sign on the main road out of town on the north side where his vivero is.
The organic market will begin on Thursdays starting Nov 18th.
Pato and Lucia feel positively about the arts & culture summer school and have plans to continue it during the school year. At this point, there is not a clear plan for how that will look but we will be getting together once Lucia is back in Troncones in a few weeks to explore options.
Pato took off the month of September and I haven't recieved any pics for October yet but I wanted to get this out to our members now before I go into a busy time until the end of November. I'll add pics here as I get them probably at the end of this month.
That's it for now. See you soon!
Leela