Unemployed Man Decides To Collect Tibás Garbage
The garbage that is piling up in Tibás is paying off for unemployed Juan José Castillo, who like many of the residents of Tibás are fed up city's inability to collect the garbage that is now in it's 22nd day.

Castillo decided to charge his neighbours ¢1.000 colones, not matter of many garbage bags they have, to haul it to the dump. The charge is per each day he provides the service.

The unemployed man is using his own truck to haul the garbage to the Río Azul dump and expects to make some ¢50.000 (us$100) a day in the process.

Castillo who lives in nearby Moravia told the Spanish language daily newspaper La Nación "I know the problem in Tibás and since I am unemployed I figured I could earn something while helping out the residents of the area".

Castillo said that in his first day of collections he hauled off some 8 tonnes and could only collect from two neighbourhoods, Bajo Los Rodríguez and El Vergel.

"I will be back to those on Monday while visiting other areas during the rest of this week.

Tibás is home to some 72.000 people and there is no garbage collection. The city says it does not have the money to repair the five garbage trucks. This is not the first time in the last several years that the residents of Tibás have been left with garbage on their front door.

Pablo Álvarez, of the Unión Nacional de Gobiernos Locales, said that Castillo can collect the garbage without interference from his group but he will need to obtain a license from the city.

Álvarez added that residents should pay Castillo for his service and then go to the municipality with the receipt to have the amount reduced on their property taxes.