Garbage Collection

sanpedrogringo

I love infractions!
Sep 2, 2011
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Just looking to exchange information with other posters to try and get a grasp of their experiences. Yes, this is for the longtimers here, not snowbirds, and no, I'm not looking for specifics on you're GPS location if you're hiding off the grid...then again if you were off the grid, would you be posting here?
In regards to your regular garbage collection, how many times per week, on which day/days, which hours, and how reliable?
Here in San Pedro, I currently live in an area zoned for twice weekly pickups (Saturday and Monday), but recently they cut back to once per week, BUT we have not had a pickup in 2 weeks.
Other areas in San Pedro are once per week. The day is set, but you can roll the dice on the time of day.
When I lived in the municipality of San Juan de la Maguana, pickups were twice per week (Monday and Friday), but I paid 150 pesos per month for the service. This amount was included in the monthly bill which included water/sewage as well.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
Our house is in San Cristobal Province and garbage collection is a crapshoot. *They do charge a pittance of 800 pesos a year, and they're supposed to pick up weekly, but it's more like once every three weeks. By then we have two 55 gallon drums filled

Most in the area burn their garbage and pay nothing. I suspect the trucks get so filled with the beach restaurants trash that they just skip the residential pickups * *
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
puerto plata area. no complains about our garbage guys. i think they may run on some sort of a schedule but as an unemployed beach bum i don't really do well with clocks and calendars. they come fairly regularly, twice a week, perhaps? sometimes when i hear them coming i prepare a large bottle with cold water for them. it's a dirty, ungrateful job. i slip them few pesos if we have lots of garden stuff to remove. rum bottles for xmas.
 

POP_DR

New member
May 29, 2016
47
0
0
I am downtown Puerto Plata, garbage pickup 4 times a week. Mon, Wed, Fri appr. at 9 pm and Sun at appr. 8 am. In addition a man cleans the street from paper, bottles etc. every morning around 5.30 am. All works more or less without problems... gracias a dios:)
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
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just to add: aside from regular garbage truck (thanks, musa) we have quite a few folks digging through the trash in search of bottles, plastic and metal. i'm thinking of putting out another bin just for that.
 

sanpedrogringo

I love infractions!
Sep 2, 2011
2,911
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Our house is in San Cristobal Province and garbage collection is a crapshoot. *They do charge a pittance of 800 pesos a year, and they're supposed to pick up weekly, but it's more like once every three weeks. By then we have two 55 gallon drums filled

Most in the area burn their garbage and pay nothing. I suspect the trucks get so filled with the beach restaurants trash that they just skip the residential pickups * *
Once every three weeks? You have a lot of patience.
 

sanpedrogringo

I love infractions!
Sep 2, 2011
2,911
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I am downtown Puerto Plata, garbage pickup 4 times a week. Mon, Wed, Fri appr. at 9 pm and Sun at appr. 8 am. In addition a man cleans the street from paper, bottles etc. every morning around 5.30 am. All works more or less without problems... gracias a dios:)
Seems like you have the best deal so far.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
Countryside outside guananico ( pop region ).
Used to be once a week, on wedensday.,pretty straight foward.
Now we have a new alcade and it seems to be whenever, loie once every *2 weeks or more.
We dont pay anything.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,502
5,930
113
dr1.com
Here in Jarabacoa, in our sector it's every Tuesday morning for the school, always between 6 and 7 am. Other school and our house Tuesday afternoon, but could be Wednesday morning. Next street over there is a collection point that they pick up from about three times a day , everyday except Sunday. The business sector is six days a week.
 

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
5,449
23
38
Just looking to exchange information with other posters to try and get a grasp of their experiences. Yes, this is for the longtimers here, not snowbirds, and no, I'm not looking for specifics on you're GPS location if you're hiding off the grid...then again if you were off the grid, would you be posting here?
In regards to your regular garbage collection, how many times per week, on which day/days, which hours, and how reliable?
Here in San Pedro, I currently live in an area zoned for twice weekly pickups (Saturday and Monday), but recently they cut back to once per week, BUT we have not had a pickup in 2 weeks.
Other areas in San Pedro are once per week. The day is set, but you can roll the dice on the time of day.
When I lived in the municipality of San Juan de la Maguana, pickups were twice per week (Monday and Friday), but I paid 150 pesos per month for the service. This amount was included in the monthly bill which included water/sewage as well.

This sounds like a silly question, but can you go to the municipal office and ask someone what is going on?
 

josh2203

Bronze
Dec 5, 2013
1,570
525
113
POP, three times weekly, always close to 7am in the morning. Actually one of the few services which have worked seamlessly for us. They are practically never late, apart from the few pieces of garbage left on the pavement once in a while, they do an excellent job and even mostly treat the garbage bins nicely...

Only once have we tipped them, and that was December 2015, when one of the collection days was a holiday, and after which there was just garbage everywhere. They had to start choosing whose trash they would take away completely, at which point my wife gave them 100 pesos, and they made sure that the front of our house was left spotless...
 

sanpedrogringo

I love infractions!
Sep 2, 2011
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This sounds like a silly question, but can you go to the municipal office and ask someone what is going on?
No question is silly when it comes to living in the DR. The municipal office here in San Pedro does not handle municipal items such as trash removal. San Juan yes, and they were very good. San Pedro no, and I would just come across as a "sanpedrogringo". I stopped asking questions like this here a long time ago.
 

sanpedrogringo

I love infractions!
Sep 2, 2011
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.....and on the 21st day (today), there was trash removal in my neighborhood. Just as I was going to try and find a truck and pay them out of my own pocket, a white elephant with bald tires came rolling into the area, and now all is well once again. I thank everybody for their responses.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
garbage collected yday here. i gave the guys a bottle of rum each for happy navidad.

i run in the mornings and i see that truck almost every time which makes me think they circle our neighbourhood very often (maybe even every day) but pick up only few streets at a time, to the capacity of the compactor, i guess.
 

JDFriend

the Translator
May 15, 2007
112
43
28
I'm 15km west of San Pedro. We have garbage collection every Saturday, sometimes every 2 weeks. I'm in a large village with small streets... not nice to look at piles of sh#%&* at every corner. The mayor.. forget that. I think sometimes they do it on purpose if the regidor is too demanding. Next time I'll have a garbage problem, I intend to take a picture and send it to Minister de salud and to Alicia Ortega. May not bring any result, but at least it will be in the open.

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk
 

DR Solar

Bronze
Nov 21, 2016
1,626
365
83
Wow. Lots of answers with different results. Once a week for us but the days and times have changed many times but NO complaints for once a week. When we have LARGE projects we hire a truck to haul it away. Sometimes we have way more then average for the collector and ... every now and then we give a little tip.

I suggest that you start with talking with your sanitation control expert that services you and build a new respected relationship that meets your requirements and works for both of you.
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
11,696
8,124
113
garbage collected yday here. i gave the guys a bottle of rum each for happy navidad.

i run in the mornings and i see that truck almost every time which makes me think they circle our neighbourhood very often (maybe even every day) but pick up only few streets at a time, to the capacity of the compactor, i guess.

Now they're going to start collecting three times a day.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i don't know about that but they came back on the 24th too :) no rum this time because i was chained in the kitchen.
 

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
3,162
757
113
Tues.......thurs............sat. .. in this area of Santiago, my 55 gallon drum never gets full... think they are on time