Latin America’s Largest Dump Closed in Rio
Baku, June 5 (AZERTAC). Brazilian authorities closed down a Rio de Janeiro landfill on Sunday, considered South America’s largest.
The Jardim Gramacho, which operated for 34 years, covers an area of 14 million sq ft (1.3 million sq. meters), and holds approximately 60 million tons of trash. The site handled 70 percent of Rio’s trash and provided work for more than 1,700 scavengers, catadores, who made their living collecting recyclables.
Rio generates around 8,400 tons of solid waste each day.
Plans to close the dump have existed for some time as it is an environmental threat to nearby Guanabara Bay. Paes locked the entrance of the dump with a padlock in a ceremony on Sunday, just weeks before Rio hosts the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, June 20-22.
“To replace it, we’re building Latin America’s most modern solid waste treatment center,” said Paes. He was speaking of a facility already operating for several months at Seropedica, 47 miles from the city, according to EFE.
“We’re going to use the model of Rio de Janeiro to close all the dumps in the country. This ceremony marks a great advance for the environmental sector and for the country,” Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said, according to EFE.
In 2009 Jardim Gramacho and its catadores were the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Wasteland. The film features the catadores, their work, and the harsh reality of their lives.
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