Municipal administrations in Puerto Escondido and Bajos de Chila have installed two recyclable materials collection points, the result of collaboration with civil society organizations and the business sector.
The Puntos Nit Nambii program provides locations for the collection of recyclable waste by using recycled shipping containers decorated by local artists.
Nit nambii is a Xiche Zapotec term meaning clean water. Xiche, in turn, are people from the hills close to the Oaxaca coast, mainly in the Loxicha region. Their dialect of Zapotec is also known as Xiche.
The materials that the public can deposit for recycling are PET bottles; HDPE or high-density polyethylene bottles (hard plastics like liquid detergent or shampoo containers); PP or polypropylene bottles (electrolyte bottles); aluminum cans, paper and cardboard.
Collection of recyclable materials is just the start. Organizers have also launched the Comunidad Nit program to promote recycling and up-cycling projects intended to bolster local economies, and encourage the involvement of residents, the government, non-governmental organizations, recycling firms and the business sectors of Puerto Escondido and Chila.
The program intends to add four more Puntos Nit Nambii by the end of 2023 in an effort to minimize the disposal of garbage and other pollutants in local ecosystems.
A representative of one of the organizing groups, Fundación FEMSA, stated that Comunidad Nit has the goal of mobilizing citizens and tourists to be part of the material recovery process, while at the same time avoiding the generation of garbage and promoting the creation of alternative productive chains.
According to a diagnostic study carried out by the organizers in 2019, each inhabitant of San Pedro Mixtepec generates over 2 kilos of waste every day, 10% of which is plastic. Comunidad Nit says that if this waste is reinserted into the value chain through recycling schemes, it could generate jobs and economic benefits, as well as a cleaner and healthier environment.
The administrations of Puerto and Chila collaborated in the Puntos Nit Nambii project with Latitud R, Fundación Avina, SUEMA Sustentabilidad en Energía y Medio Ambiente and Fundación FEMSA.
The local collection points are located at the Agencia Municipal in Puerto Escondido and Chila.
El Sol de Puerto
Where are the collection points in Puerto?
We had been unable to confirm their location when the story was published. Now we know that they are at the Agencia Municipal in Puerto and Chila and the story has been updated with the new information. Thanks for asking.
Do they take the thin plastic water bottles?