Santa Cruz Seeks Second Recycling Center Amid Underuse

Santa Cruz, a city of 212,000 people, has only one recycling center for the entire municipality. This facility, located in the Jagua ravine near the Fishing Dock and the San Andrés highway, is where residents can drop off large household waste. However, it isn't used very much. In fact, it collects the same amount of waste as the recycling center in Buenavista del Norte, a town with just 5,000 residents.

Because of this, Santa Cruz City Council plans to ask the Cabildo, the island's waste management authority, to fund a second recycling center for the capital. This new facility is expected to be built between the Ofra-South Coast and Southwest districts, according to Carlos Tarife, the Councillor for Public Services.

Tenerife has eight free recycling centers in total: Jagua (Santa Cruz Fishing Dock), Las Torres de Taco (La Laguna), Güímar Industrial Estate, Arona (uphill to San Lorenzo Valley), Adeje, Buenavista del Norte, San Jerónimo Industrial Estate (La Orotava), and La Guancha. All of these are managed by the Island Cabildo.

Tarife explained that many Santa Cruz residents currently use the Taco recycling center, possibly because they don't know about the one in Jagua. He added that the City Council wants a new waste collection facility in the capital. The City Council currently pays the Cabildo 90 euros for every ton of waste processed at the Solid Waste Treatment Plant (PIRS), which is a significant cost for the city. The hope is that some of the money from a new, mandatory municipal waste fee will be used to improve services for residents. The City Council will put this request to both the Cabildo and the Canary Islands Government, as both bodies are involved in waste management.