Los Montesinos Council is finalising the tender documents for a new door-to-door waste collection service, which will also include street cleaning and sweeping. It will be the largest service contract in the town’s history, covering a population of around five thousand eight hundred people and running for ten years.

The contract has an estimated value of five point three eight million euros, including VAT, which works out at just over five hundred and thirty-eight thousand euros a year. The price includes possible future cost increases. The council wants Los Montesinos to become the third municipality in the Vega Baja to fully introduce door-to-door collection, after Dolores and Daya Vieja.

Ahead of the main contract, the council has already awarded two supporting deals using European funding. These include the purchase of an electric waste collection lorry for ninety-three thousand euros and new containers, bags and user identification systems costing more than four hundred and thirty-four thousand euros.

Supporters say the system reduces waste, transport costs and pressure on household rubbish charges, which have risen due to national rules requiring full cost recovery. However, some residents remain sceptical, and the council has scheduled further public information meetings, including one next week with the mayor of Dolores.