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Down and Dirty With Coca-Cola
#41 - 0--bajatrash--Down and Dirty With Coca-Cola--2008-01-15 20:40:14
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Will Coca-Cola Mexico Clean Up Its Act
By Bud Green
Ok, let me just say this for starters, I have never been a big fan of Coke products, www.coca-cola.com.mx , I must admit I am a staunch Dr Pepper drinker. But, since my exsistence here in Mexico for the past 7 years or so, I have been forced to drink Coke due to fact that my favorite soda is just not available here.
Now, my point for writing this article. What I have witnessed over the past 5 months, standing at my balcony overlooking this beautiful Pacific Ocean, is the construction of a new Coca-Cola storage facility. Now it is not the construction that has upset me to the point of boycotting Coke, but the way the construction garbage is handled.
- Today, I hit the breaking point. For months I have watched the workers just blamelessly throwing the excess materials, i.e.; concrete, plastics, metal, insulation, and whatever else had no more use to them, into the Olive tree orchard. Now the Olive tree orchard is private property, not the property of Coke. But today, I seen my opportunity, I grabbed my camera, got into the van, and hauled ass down to the site. As I stood there taking pics of the garbage, here comes a handful of insulation waste from roof, down to the ground into the orchard. I was able to get a good photo of the worker tossing the garbage overboard. I then asked him, what the heck he was doing. And why he was throwing the garbage into this private property, the worker shrugged his shoulders with disbelief that I was asking him these questions, his simple but typical answer was, " I don't know", and continued to throw more waste into the orchard.
Well the bold soul that I am and the fact that I want to put a stop to this criminal act, I marched through the construction site, with about 25 workers doing there thing, oblivious to my intentions. I asked one worker where the "Jefe" or boss was and as my luck would have it, the big boss, the owner of the facility just happened to be present. Tony was who I was directed to. Now Tony, a Mexican business man, greeted me with a hand shake. I introduced myself and informed him I was with an organization called Baja Trash. I asked him to follow me to the orchard on the back side of the building, he followed.
Now my first question to him was, why at this construction site was there no dumpster or even for that fact a garbage can. Mr. Tony answered, quoting, "Well, Bud, the "F"ing architect never ordered one". I then informed him that the Olive orchard was private property and asked why all his garbage was being thrown into the Olive trees. Mr. Tony answered, "Well Bud, the workers don't seen to really care and the architect is at fault. I have ordered a wide swath of this area cleaned upon completion of the construction." I am standing there listening to this man with amazement, the fact that for him it is ok for this to happen as they will clean it up afterwards. I replied, "Mr. Tony, this is a crime and if I was to come to your property and toss my garbage into your yard, you would be extremely pissed about it and call the police, right? "Mr. Tony agreed with me and vowed to clean up the mess. All the while using the "F" word when talking about his employees and the mess they have created. He went to also say, "I don't know why they don't sack up the garbage and I could put it in my truck and haul it off to the dump."
I went on to converse with Mr. Tony about the garbage issue throughout Baja and he seemed have a passion in his words while agreeing with me and commending me for the work, effort and concern that I have and am doing. All the while using the "F" word when talking about the lack of morals most Mexicans have when it comes to just throwing their garbage in areas that are not meant for garbage to be dumped. I said to Mr. Tony, "Then you would agree that this that we are seeing right here in front of us is wrong? "Mr. Tony went on to say that he would make sure that this garbage would be cleaned up.
And so we shook hands, he walked away, I stood there feeling proud that I was able to make my point to the top guy, snapped a few more pics, got into my van and drove away. When I reached my house, I again stood on my balcony, with the view of all that garbage below, and soon watched Mr. Tony get into his truck and drive off. By the way, the back of his truck was empty, and no garbage was carried off to the dump.
Now this is not the only location that this is occurring, but because it is in my plain view, rest assures that this is not over. I will be on them like a fly on #@!% and will not ease up till this garbage is cleaned up. I plan on sending this article and pics to the main office of Coca-Cola here in Baja and in Atlanta, Ga. So, in the mean time, I personally am boycotting Coca-Cola products, and would ask all Mexicans to do the same. Make a statement with me please, we cannot let a giant like this company attribute to this Baja Trash.
Update Jan 16, 2008..... First I wanted to point out that this new facility is in El Sauzal just north of Ensenada Mexico.
I am impressed that Mr. Tony this morning began having his workers clean up the mess. Now please do not get me wrong, only a pickup truck load of garbage was hauled off and I do want to mention that it is FAR from being clean. But my point is that I must have made an impression on this man, because the effort has begun. I wll keep you updated as the effort continues, if not, well I will march my butt back down there and have a few more words with him. Please stay tuned! Thank you Mr. Tony.--comments-->0--200--6
