An epidemic of mattresses dilapidated and abandoned to their fate has gripped the city of Torrevieja (Alicante). Appear arrumbados against the wall, leaning exánimes against the trash containers or deposited gently on the floor. There are still in good condition but the majority are torn to shreds or rotted. They can languish in the back alleys of the periphery, in city centre or in residential areas for foreigners who want to retire next to the sea and under a good climate. According to the calculations of the consistory, the municipal service of cleaning has picked up 9.081 mattresses between July and September. 3,000 a month. Hundred daily. And since the consistory did not find a clue that would help them to resolve what they termed “mystery”.
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The councillor of Toilet City of Torrevieja, Carmen Gomez Candel (PP), do not know where to begin to trace the origin of the case of the mattresses. In statements to Efe, said that after making a few enquiries by the local furniture stores, has not been able to detect “a significant increase in the sales of mattresses compared to other years.” In addition, according to the testimonies collected, before each new acquisition, “the trade supplied by the new remove the old and is bound to bring him to a point authorized”.
The situation has forced the councillor in charge of torrevieja to end up with this problem. Not only to “improve the image of the city”, but also to control the effects of this collapse of mattresses in the coffers of the consistory. Check out the close to 9,100 in parts to ensure their proper rest in the landfill corresponding sum an expenditure of 163.458 euros, say from the consistory.
Torrevieja is a city in permanent transit of inhabitants per housing frequently changing owners. The bulk of your tourism business is not seasonal, there are hardly any hotels, but residential. What most abounds, are the urbanizations of townhouses in that barely speaks Spanish throughout the year. The real estate market has picked up in recent months, after the dramatic downturn of the crisis, which led to the city, the fifth of the Valencian Community in population, having more than 100,000 inhabitants, census to just over 80,000 today. The houses were emptied, many of the residents, especially the british, for fear of Brexit, they returned to their countries and have not returned. And the agencies of the real estate property did not stop to offer homes at very low prices.
Proof of this transfer to purchase real estate are, for example, the large amount of furniture and small appliances that can be found next to any container of trash. And also, the proliferation of businesses that are dedicated to the sale and purchase of scrap metal. A professional collection of discharges who prefers not to be identified confirms the abundance of jergones to your step throughout the city. “Yes, there are many” notes, “almost everyone in the Turret”, an urbanization of the periphery along which is located the ecopark, the point of collection of waste in the municipality.
Usually, continues the same source, are in deplorable conditions, “dirty and rotten”. For him, the key to the mystery is obvious. “The people change their house or purchase one,” he continues, “and throw the mattresses that you find in the trash”. But the scrap dealer is also come with mattresses that can still ensure proper use. “There are a few that are clean and in good condition,” he says. Those are the only ones who picks it up. “Immigrants, especially africans, I ask for”, he says, “and I pay the transportation.” Others have no interest for him. In any case, we will only use that have metal structures in the docks, but they entail “too much work” of opening and draining the minimum price at which you can now sell metals as “the iron, which is nine cents a kilo”.
