The Ugly Truth: La Comena Landfill Crisis Continues 2025

Tara A. Spears

Waste doesn’t magically disappear; it simply disappears from your sight, and it’s often not stored properly. Proper solid waste management is a key strategy for reducing the social and environmental impact from unwanted solids. To talk about proper solid waste management is to talk about public health, to talk about the environment, and to talk about a better life for present and future generations. To improve waste management, several sectors must act together—the government, businesses, and citizens—to design a project with the appropriate technology for the needs of Jaltemba Bay area. Currently 12 towns and villages bring their waste to La Colmena.

Backstory: The current landfill is located only two kilometers east of Guayabitos. (see map) Its official name is La Colmena de la Peñita de Jaltemba landfill in Compostela Nayarit, whose capacity was exceeded by 2014. One can see the hills of open-air waste, where fires have reoccurred from trapped toxic gases. During the rainy months, the polluted runoff is absorbed into the subsoil, spreading to other water sources for livestock, causing illness.  During the rainy season, this toxic runoff flows through La Colmena neighborhood, through our community, until it dumps into the ocean.

The first warnings about this landfill began in 1980s! By 2010, the government was notified that the landfill was approaching capacity.  The maximum capacity was reached in 2014, and it was slated for closure.  In 2018 (by the previous government) and again last year (by the current government) the use of the La Colmena landfill was ordered closed-no additional dumbing. However, this edict has not be observed. The government continues to make promises but they do not take action to fulfill them.

The government, SEMARNAT, defines waste as “materials or products that are discarded.” These can come in different forms: gases, liquids, semi-solids, and solids. The latter includes the classification of urban solid waste (MSW), discarded in homes and the result of domestic activities. MSW is what most people call garbage.

The current status of waste in Mexico, as reported by GTA, is that 120,128 tons of waste are generated daily. In Mexico, the General Law for the Prevention and Comprehensive Management of Waste focuses on ensuring environmental protection through proper waste management. It is of utmost importance that any waste generator be familiar with it in order to properly dispose of it.

Open-air landfills are one of the most common forms of disposal due to their low economic cost, but they are also among the least recommended due to their high environmental impact. According to the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography), 87% of garbage dumps in Mexico are of this type.  The amount of waste in this country has increased rapidly: from 2003 to 2015 the figure of our waste increased by 61.2% (SEMARNAT, 2015).

Here are the statistics: approximately 33% of waste in Mexico is organic (33.07% food waste and 10.84% garden waste), meaning it has the ability to biodegrade quickly and return nutrients to the soil if composted. Additionally, approximately one-third of what is generated can be recycled. In other words, if resources are properly managed, we could return almost half of the waste to the earth (compost) and recycle more than 30% (SEMARNAT, 2020). Reducing your waste by recycling does have a positive impact on landfills.

Here’s the ugly truth: In landfills, garbage is left in the open, unseparated and uncovered, which makes it a breeding ground for infection. In addition, leachate (water that has passed through the garbage and carries its pollutants) is produced, which can reach water bodies and contaminate them, posing a threat to human and environmental health. Biogas is also produced, which, if released directly into the atmosphere, increases the earth’s temperature. It is also the biogas that can ignite and produce toxic smoke that can cause respiratory illnesses, which has been the situation several times in Guayabitos.

Local environmental activist, Laura Paola Aquileria, shared several options to address the La Colmena landfill problems. “There’s another site that was purchased years ago to become a landfill that was never opened. Money could be invested to reactivate it. It has an environmental permit, but we don’t know if it’s 100% valid, because it became a protected area due to the underground rivers. Also, to access it, a road is needed, and they don’t have the land ownership permits because it belongs to the ejido (communal landholding). The ejido and government haven’t reached an agreement at this time.” She continued, “What we can do now is: Demand a new landfill site from the state government and the president. Lastly, have the various municipalities and citizens responsible to deliver their separated waste to a GYRSSA location.”

Regional delegate, regulador Octaviano Figueroa said, “Yes, we have made many petitions to the authorities to try to solve this problem of the landfill. We even came up  one location that was agreed upon but that was later closed by the ejidatarios.”

Of course, there are healthier options for managing waste disposal in Jaltemba Bay, such as creating a sanitary landfill with a waste treatment plant that separates the collected trash. In this type of landfill the waste suitable for recovery is sorted and selected for recycling while the remaining raw material can be compacted, etc. Proper solid waste management not only reduces the amount of trash, but also helps avoid extracting a large amount of resources from the earth. This issue has been ignored by state government for more than 15 years. It is time to address the problem now.

To talk about proper solid waste management is to talk about public health, to talk about the environment, and to talk about a better life for present and future generations. To improve waste management, several sectors must act together—the government, businesses, and citizens—to design a project with the appropriate technology for each individual’s context. I see the citizens and some of the business taking the initiatives to manage their output of waste, it’s time for the Nayarit government to get on board.