Plastic Bags (courtesy of Ambientate Argentina)

Buenos Aires is taking steps to get plastic shopping bags out of the city with a regulation that will slowly take the product away from store checkouts.

Following in the province of Buenos Aires’ footsteps, the regulation will implement a series of steps to gradually replace plastic bags. The first tier came into effect on 19th June, when people should have stopped receiving plastic bags from kiosks, pharmacies and deliveries.

From the beginning of August, supermarkets and convenience stores will have to provide biodegradable equivalents to plastic bags or incentives for people who bring their own bags.

The move is a step toward reducing waste in the city of Buenos Aires, which sends 6,000 tonnes of garbage to landfill each day. The issue of rubbish disposal has been a hot topic in the last few months, as the province of Buenos Aires, where the landfills are located, debates a bill that, if passed, will gradually decrease the amount of waste entering the province. From January 2014, no waste would be allowed to enter the province from another district.

Although the law in question – 3147 – was passed in 2009, the city just resolved to regulate it. In its 9th May official bulletin, the city announced the approval of the schedule that would remove plastic bags from checkouts.

Resolution 155/APRA/12 reads that the law “aims to promote the production of biodegradable bags” and “the gradual reduction and subsequent ban on non-biodegradable bag use by businesses.”

Greener Alternatives

The official bulletin also notes “that the plan should also consider the conversion of the biodegradable bag manufacturing sector, developing a schedule for the gradual replacement of non-biodegradable bags with biodegradable bags as well as awareness campaigns for the population.”

The only industries exempt from the law are those that require plastic bags for sanitary reasons, like meat and vegetable sellers and the hospital sector.

Exemptions will also be made for supermarkets and convenience stores that supply customers with new bags that are 55cm wide and 60cm high, 50% of which are green and 50% of which are black. The move is an attempt to get people to recognise the need to separate garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.

Stores who wish to use paper bags must follow other regulations as well, according to the city’s website.

“They must be made ​​with certified paper to ensure environmental sustainability in its production cycle,” it says, noting the paper must follow international certification systems, be made from alternatives like cane sugar or be made with least 80% recycled paper.

The plastic bag ban means the Argentine capital is joining a slew of cities around the world that are banning plastic bags, including Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Mumbai among many others.

Ecoexist is a company that makes eco-friendly bags in Argentina. “The ecological bags have many advantages,” Ecoexist member Sebastián Javelier says in a blog post, publicised on the company’s site, which notes the city’s new stance. “The main one is that the consumer is fully aware that an environmental problem exists, but doesn’t know quite what to do as an individual. These bags intuitively help to reduce garbage, one of the three most important problems of urban life, along with water care and disposal of batteries and electronic waste.”

The province of Buenos Aires moved to limit the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2008, and gave stores a two-year period to adjust before enforcing the law.

To find out what locals think about the initiative, click here.

A pre-dug CRA pipe that will eventually be covered with garbage as it piles higher. This will enable the company to suck out the methane gas produced by the garbage. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

It is the same story over and over again: landfills are bad, they are dirty, they are noisy, and the smell could knock out even a skunk. With almost 15,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfills every day from the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, it is not unfair to say that landfills are the pit of society. But while they are most definitely smelly and unattractive, what most people do not know is that they are also green, and getting greener.

“We are working very hard to manage the garbage,” says Marcelo Vechiati, the engineer in charge of CRA operations at the Ensenada landfill. “It’s easy to complain but when people come here and see the landfill, it changes their opinion.”

Vechiati works for Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) at the Ensenada landfill just outside of La Plata. The landfill receives 700 tonnes of garbage a day from both La Plata and the surrounding area.

Owned by the State Society for Ecological Co-ordination of the Metropolitan Area (CEAMSE), Ensenada is a very advanced landfill with not only proper treatment of the garbage itself but also the green technology of flaring methane gas into CO₂.

Flaring, as the process is called, is a popular way of dealing with the very toxic methane gas that is constantly leaking from landfills. Numerous sites across Argentina have built flares.

Besides flaring, there is also the even greener option of using the gas for creating energy and finally, the greenest of all, is the new technology of separating, drying, and burning the garbage to create fuel. However, the process of burning garbage remains very controversial.

Flaring Methane Gas

Flaring is the environmentally-conscious process of transforming the toxic methane gas that is constantly leaking out of landfills, into carbon dioxide (CO₂). Although still not good for the environment, in terms of its global warming potential, CO₂ is 21 times less potent than methane.

“Methane is more potent than CO₂,” says the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “When these emissions are compared on an equivalent scale, which is referred to as greenhouse gas equivalents, methane contributes more to global warming.”  The EPA has done numerous studies looking at the flaring of garbage.

Vechiati explains that the projects at Ensenada and González Catán are compliant with the Kyoto Protocol. Although the protocol seems to have slipped into that awkward zone of accepted failure, and no one really wants to talk about it, some companies are still trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

“CEAMSE wanted to do something related to the environment and they saw the potential of the bio-gas generated by the landfill,” says Vechiati. “So in 2005 they opened a tender to get different proposals to do something with the biogas; CRA won the tender and became a partner of CEAMSE.”

A meter shows how much gas passes through the flare each hour. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

Canadian company CRA organised the technology to be built at both CEAMSE’s Ensenada and González Catán landfill sites. Now the flaring process is burning more than 3,000 cubic metres of gas per hour.

The methane gas is sucked up from the modules, the hills filled with garbage, through vertical wells that are 16-18 metres deep. The wells pull the methane gas up into a giant tube, which transports the gas all the way across the landfill onto the flaring site.

The gas arrives at the flaring site through a well that is deep under ground in order to naturally drain as much moisture as possible. It is then sent to a moisture filter to get rid of any that made it past the draining system, as the gas must be very dry.

The gas then travels through another tube, which blasts it into the flare. Tubes at the bottom of the 12-metre tall flare release propane which reacts with the methane and oxygen in a combustion process that changes the molecules and creates CO₂. The CO₂ is then released into the atmosphere.

The flare at Ensenada is currently not at full capacity due to construction issues. But Vechiati hopes it will be back to burning close to 6,000 cubic metres of gas per hour in a few months.

Across Argentina numerous landfills have employed flaring, including the landfills in Villa Domínico and Olavarria in Buenos Aires, Salta, Puente Gallego in Rosario, AESA in Misiones, and Las Heras in Mendoza. However, regulations set down by the Kyoto protocol are not internationally binding or imposed by the Argentine government. Whether or not to do something about the environment is up to the owner of the landfill.

Also, although it is a friendlier gas, CO₂ emissions are a big problem in Argentina. According to World Bank data from 2008, the average Argentine created five cubic metres of CO2 per year, which was almost double the amount of the rest of Latin America combined, which comes in at 2.8 cubic metres per capita. The amount of CO₂ emissions has been on the rise in Argentina, spiking from 4.1 to 4.8 cubic metres in just three years. Latin America’s is also rising but has only gone up 0.3 cubic metres in the same amount of time.

Over at Norte III, CEAMSE’s other landfill, three different companies are working on flaring. They are also using the even cleaner technology of energy generation from methane.

From Gas to Energy 

Energy generation is similar to the flaring of methane gas in that it is using the naturally emitted gas from garbage in landfills for an environmentally-friendly purpose.

A pipe takes the methane from the landfill to the flare site. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

At Norte III, Multi Ambiente is the company in charge of turning the gas into energy. Norte III, just outside the city in San Martín, is by far the largest of CEAMSE’s sites with around 15,000 tonnes of garbage coming in everyday from the city of Buenos Aires alone, as well as receiving garbage from numerous other cities.

“With the large economic global crisis, and the reduction in the CER [Certified Emissions Reactions] prices, we are rethinking and focusing on energy generation,” says Leonardo Maseiras, the sub-manager of operations at CEAMSE. “This is why we have running in Norte III a 5MW/h plant and are constructing one that will create 10 MW/h.”

CERs are what CRA and CEAMSE are being paid to create. When they change the methane gas into CO₂ they have made a CER, which they then sell to make a profit. However, with the global economic crisis the price for CERs has plummeted, making the expense to create them more than they are worth. Turning to energy generation not only guarantees a profit but is also better for the environment. Various other landfills sites across Argentina are also looking into energy generation instead of flaring.

The use of methane to create energy is a similar process to the flaring of methane. The gas is collected in tubes that are drilled vertically into the modules. With giant vacuums it is sucked out of the hill and carried through tubes to the energy conversion site.

There the gas turns massive turbines that create energy. That energy is then collected and transferred to state-owned energy company Enarsa.

“All the power lines in Argentina are connected,” says the president of Insaap Miguel Suarez, “All the lines are owned by Enarsa. This is a national government agency. It doesn’t matter where you are in Argentina, you are getting the same energy.”

Insaap is the company in charge of contracting the green projects at CEAMSE’s landfills. They controlled the actual building of the flare at Ensenada. They are also looking into waste-to-energy technology that incinerates the garbage itself.

The Tyrannosaurus

Enter the Tyrannosaurus. Although not literally a giant scaly dinosaur, the machine in question has the power to do some serious damage; to garbage that is.

Developed in Finland by BMH Technology, the Tyrannosaurus is the name of the actual machine that shreds the garbage. The shredder is part of a massive assembly line that takes municipal solid waste (MSW) and turns it into solid recovered fuel (SRF) which can then be burned to create energy.

Through various filters and magnets all liquid waste, metals, and organic waste are pulled out of the MSW for compost and recycling. The garbage left is then dried and sent through the Tyrannosaurus, which shreds what is left making SRF.

“The idea of the project is to generate fuel with garbage. It separates the inorganic and organic parts and uses the combustible part to make fuel,” says Suarez.

The end product is “highly-calorific fluff” that is ideal for burning to create energy, either mixed with traditional solid fuels like wood, peat and coal or used alone. Emissions of greenhouse gases are seriously minimised due to the high-temperature burning of the SRFs. This option makes garbage burning one of the most environmentally friendly ways of dealing with a city’s waste.

“This is something CEAMSE would like to do in Norte III but we are only just studying it, it is extremely expensive,” says Suarez.

Besides Norte III the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) is also looking into something similar for the province of Mendoza’s landfills. They plan on constructing a prototype, which will burn 10 tonnes of garbage a day. The price tag for the prototype has been budgeted at $30 million.

The Province of San Juan is also trying to be the first province to burn garbage by participating in a competition held by the National Ministry of Science and Technology. If their project is picked, a $36 million power plant that is fuelled by waste will be built.

The Politics

Part of the problem with developing green technology at landfills in Argentina is the unknown life expectancy of a site. In order to get funding for flaring, energy conversion, and shredding for incineration projects like the Tyrannosaurus, they need long-term proposals. But like many other things in Argentina, the landfill sites are often subject to political tug of war.

The other problem is the huge controversy surrounding what is essentially the burning of garbage.

The Citizens Coalition Against Incineration was formed in 1995 to protest the original plan to simply burn the garbage with no sorting whatsoever.

The flare tower burns the carbon-dioxide which while still polluting is 21 times less dangerous for the environment than burning methane. (Photo: Grace Protopapas)

“The incineration of waste creates new environmental and health problems, discourages the minimisation of waste generation, and is incompatible with programs for recovery, recycling, and composting,” writes the coalition on their website.

Although many people still balk at the idea of burning garbage today, BMH claims that the burning of SRF is much more environmentally friendly. The gas created from the burning can be used to turn massive turbines creating energy. When the entire process is complete the only thing left is organic waste for compost, metals that can be melted down and reused, and energy from the burning of the SRF. All of this is done with fewer greenhouse gases escaping.

For now, landfills in Argentina are focusing on what they can do: flaring methane gas to create CO₂ and converting methane into energy. Despite being covered in plastics, left over food, and shiny metals, they are getting greener.

“People don’t like the idea of landfills but even if you know nothing about the environment you can see that we are environmental cleaners, not environmental polluters,” says Vechiati. “After all, where else are you going to put the garbage?”

Do Argentines think these initiatives will help solve the rubbish problem? Click here to find out.

Walking down the streets of Buenos Aires is often a sensory adventure – but not always in a good way.

Overflowing garbage and recycled garbage waits for collection (Photo: Sam Verhaert)

In between wafts from bakeries and the glorious Roman-style columns, bags of refuse line every kerb. Street corners sometimes serve as collection stations, where dozens of bags sit and stink up the neighbourhood. Restaurants dump uneaten food into the same bins as computer parts and cardboard. Cartoneros – the city’s makeshift recyclers – rip through bins and bags for whatever can be sold.

This is just what people can see.

Beneath the surface, the situation is just as messy.

Out of the approximately 14,000 tonnes of garbage produced daily by the entire Buenos Aires metropolitan area, the capital’s share weighs in at about 6,000 tonnes. For years, that trash has been ending up in the Province of Buenos Aires’ landfills.

But if a new bill currently being debated at the Buenos Aires province legislature is passed, the province will not take it anymore – and the city will have to find new ways to deal with its own garbage.

Recent Stir Ups

Last week, Buenos Aires provincial senators Cristina Fioramonti and Alberto De Fazio introduced a bill that would slowly decrease the amount of waste entering the Province of Buenos Aires from other jurisdictions – namely from the city of Buenos Aires.

From the 14th January 2014, no waste of any type would be allowed to enter the province from another district.

“The issue of garbage has been dilating for quite some time, and we understand the need to resolve the issue for the sake of our environment and our health,” Fioramonti said, according to the Argentine legally-focused weekly Parlamentario. ”We will do whatever is necessary to get this bill passed and that it can be used in the future as the standard.”

Barrio 17 Noviembre is a waste-land. (Photo: Olmo Calvo Rodríguez)

The cherry on the garbage sundae is that the State Society for Ecological Co-ordination of the Metropolitan Area – CEAMSE, the publicly-owned solid waste management company – has stated that prices for the capital will be hiked 35% as of 1st June.

The move follows weeks of trash talk between President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Buenos Aires city mayor Mauricio Macri.

On 3rd May, President Fernández asked that “the city pays what it has to pay” for garbage per tonne, noting it is either that or “they should have it [the rubbish] processed in the city.”

In a press conference on 8th May, Macri accused the national government of trying to “bankrupt” the city.

“The attacks have to be limited,” he said. “We live in Argentina and we have a metropolitan area. An important part of the waste generated is from people coming every day to work in the city.”

Consuelo Bilbao is a co-ordinator with Greenpeace Argentina. She says the problem extends to the metropolitan area as well, but the capital is the biggest issue because it creates the most rubbish. While she points out that the city has to find ways to limit the garbage it produces, she notes the 2014 deadline that would close the province landfill’s doors would leave the city stranded.

“They can’t be closed,” she says. “Where will they put the garbage? There is no other new location. [...] We can’t prohibit it all, 100%. There isn’t a way, in two years, to stop it all, 100%”

Basura Cero

In November 2005, the government of Buenos Aires unanimously passed the “Zero Waste” law, which was supposed to decrease the levels of garbage produced in the city.

Cliba Dump Truck (Photo: Ian McIntosh)

The law proposed measures to reduce waste, improve recovery and recycling, and decrease the toxicity of waste; it also is supposed to put more responsibility on manufacturers for their products.

The Zero Waste law states that using the 2004 baseline of 1,497,656 tonnes, the city should reduce the amount of waste being buried at landfills 30% by 2010, 50% by 2012 and 75% by 2017. It also says the city will prohibit the disposal of recyclable materials by 2020.

Despite the efforts of the Zero Waste law, Bilbao says the situation remains the same.

“Regrettably after so many years, because of a lack of investment, because they do not really want to change anything beyond the words of the law, we’re still burying trash,” Bilbao says. “Today, after so many years, instead of having less garbage as is in the law which was to progressively introduce methods of reduction, we have had a steady year-to-year increase.”

Francisco Pompeyo Ramos-Marrau is an urban architect working with the Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services. He says he thinks the program is “better than not having anything.”

“It doesn’t resolve the problem definitively at all,” said Ramos-Marrau, who works in the department of urban planning and construction.

A “Below-Average” City

In comparison to the rest of Latin America, Buenos Aires is not particularly green.

In 2010, the business consultants Economist Intelligence Unit released a report on the environmental performance of 17 Latin American cities. Sponsored by Siemens, the report ranked the cities on a range of criteria like waste, sanitation, water and air quality.

Buenos Aires fell below average – with especially dismal performances in its waste management and sanitation.

The study said the city generates 606kg of waste per person per year, above the 17-city average of 465kg per year.

“This is the third highest rate of waste generation in the Index — only Brasília and Belo Horizonte produce more waste,” it reads.

Bilbao notes the city’s huge lack in organic composting. She says about 50% of the city’s solid waste going to landfill is organic material.

“If you want to separate your food and organic material out, no one comes to pick it up,” she says. “[It's] an important fraction, which would shrink this gigantic garbage pie.”

Urban environmental expert Nicholas You was a member of the panel that advised the Economist study. In an interview published alongside the study, he said that in Latin American cities everyone is responsible for a “slice of the problem” but no one controls the bigger picture.

“There are several obstacles, including short-term politics versus long-term planning, decentralisation and the lack of empowerment of local authorities, and overlapping jurisdictions,” he said. “But there is one key issue: who is responsible for doing what?”

Improvements and Options

The city has announced that next March, recycling stations will be available around Buenos Aires.

Recycling collection bins in Recoleta. (Photo: Leonardo-DM)

In an attempt to cut down the garbage, La Nación reported Sunday that although a few “ecopoints” have been set up in the city, many people near them do not know how to use them.

“The information that is available is not great, nor is there a number to call to come and look for things, at least in my neighborhood,” 32-year-old Paula Lombardi, who moved to Floresta nine months ago, told the newspaper.

Although there is a law against anything but interred garbage, on 9th May the state-owned news agency Télam reported that the city of Buenos Aires’ auditor Eduardo Epszteyn said he thinks the lack of interest in reducing garbage is part of a strategy to move toward incineration.

There have been no further reports on the topic. But Eduardo Giesen, Latin American co-ordinator for Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), an NGO against incineration which promotes systems of Zero Waste, says there are studies from around the world that show the negative impacts of incineration.

“GAIA and its allies in Argentina, who group themselves against incineration, celebrate the Zero Waste law,” he says. “But unfortunately, we have seen it employed in a manner that is deficient.”

Although she disagrees with incineration, Bilbao says Buenos Aires is on the verge of crashing if there are no major changes before 2014.

“We’re at a moment of collapse,” she says, noting that money is not a problem.

She points out that the city spends $1.5bn on garbage services, and only $200m on its minimal recycling programme.

“Is it that there isn’t money? Or is it that the money isn’t distributed well?” she asks.

Ramos-Marrau also says the city should treat its unofficial cartoneros better. With an official system, they would. He adds that the cartoneros should be given the opportunity to work in the centres.

“The working conditions of the cartoneros today should not exist,” he says. “It’s outside of labour laws. [...] They are workers. They are not people that are outside of the labour market.”

That said, Ramos-Marrau notes that garbage is just one of a slew of institutional problems in the city. Fixing the rubbish problem would be a “patch” on a much deeper problem. He says he thinks the city should no longer be the federal district of Buenos Aires, but that there should be an all-encompassing government that functions within the metropolitan area. He also believes the city should no longer be the actual capital of the country. He noted that the capital should move to a place like Viedma, which is according to law the capital of Argentina.

Ramos-Marrau also says that with regards to garbage in general, people have to start thinking of it differently, thinking of it as something that can be used in another way. He says there are better ways to dispose of and use municipal waste, which could be found through waste treatment plants and urban garbage factories.

“This is urgent,” he says. “This is immediate. This cannot wait any longer. They have to take enormous institutional measures. [It's] a question of jurisprudence, jurisdictions, and of decentralisation – it’s very difficult.”

Click here to find out what porteños think about the city’s rubbish problem.

Last week the government of the province of Buenos Aires introduced a bill that, if passed, will stop Capital Federal’s rubbish from being dumped in the province by January 2014. For decades the city’s rubbish has been going to landfills in the province, so now that the city might have to deal with its own rubbish, what will happen?

On top of this CEAMSE, the publicly-owned company which handles the city’s waste management, has announced it will be raising its prices by 35% as of June this year. All in all, the city has a big pile of rubbish on its hands, which if both changes go forward, will be an expensive problem too.

Allendria Brunjes investigates the details behind the new bill preventing rubbish being transported out of its original jurisdiction, while looking at the state of Federal Capital’s rubbish management in general. The Indy headed to the streets to see what the residents of Buenos Aires thought about the city’s rubbish and what should be done with it.

Juan Cruz, 27, Almagro, Employer

I believe the rubbish should be discarded in the province rather than the city, because the province does not have the physical limitations that the city has. The city does not have enough space to store or bury the rubbish. Needless to say, when the city dumps rubbish, it tries to make sure the rubbish is handled properly, and not form open pit rubbish dumps, or create pollutants. 

Ariel Vrangican, 32, Playa Blanca, Tourism Worker

They should have a spot where recycling and rubbish is put and dealt with – either a particular place, or a machine that gets rid of the rubbish and not just leave it. The capital’s rubbish matters and they must sort it out. Macri must tell the province that he is planning on dumping the rubbish there, and make sure there is some agreement in place. If he hasn’t done this, then I think it’s a problem, but if there is an agreement in place, then I think it’s fine. I think that if there is a plan in place, it should incorporate the opinion of all the people from the province.

Marica Sabbatini, 29, San Telmo, Artist

I think the topic of where to store rubbish is quite a complicated issue. In order to dump refuse waste, space is needed. It would be good to try and find a place in Capital Federal so to not compromise the relationship between capital’s government and the provincial government. If no place within the city can be found, Macri will have to negotiate with the provincial government to find a solution.

Maria Isabel Flores, 58, Belgrano, Ballerina

I think they should industrialise the city’s rubbish. I also think that the organic waste should be separated from what is not organic, and then the volume of waste would not be so big. Once this separation has been made, the organic waste is biodegradable, making the problem of where to put it much smaller. After this the city will just have to think about the other waste. I think that more focus should be put on recycling. In regards to where the waste should be put, I think that the production and separation of the rubbish would filter out a lot a recycling and be kept in recycling plants. After that, I don’t really know.

Alex Burin, 24, Villa Crespo, Student

The state of the rubbish in the city is disgusting. If it weren’t for the cartoneros there would be no recycling, which although is a good source of income for them, is a terrible reflection on our government’s system. I don’t know if there is enough space for the government to dump the rubbish in Capital Federal, so the only solution might be to put it elsewhere. If the government were more efficient about the way they collect rubbish, maybe there wouldn’t be as much of it. The main issue for me is the recycling and that money and effort should be put into bringing the city up to the standards of others.

Like most developing countries, Argentina is becoming more of a consumer of electronic waste, and what to do with these products when they end their natural life cycle is a growing burden. The vast majority is currently left in landfills or on rubbish dumps, taking hundreds of years to decompose and releasing heaving metals and harmful toxins, which are dangerous to public health. However, there are upcoming discussions in government to sign a law to ensure that the producers are responsible for the safe disposal of their products and to generally regulate the safe management of waste electronic equipment. The Indy hit the streets to ask the public Buenos Aires what they thought about this pertinent subject.

Cesar Benites, 38, Quilmes, works in the restaurant industry

The government should encourage people to recycle more especially as nowadays electronic items are very popular. I try and sell my electronic waste as it can make useful items. Everyone needs to play their role though and not just leave it on the street. I am aware of the dangers that the contamination of electronic waste landfills can cause and it is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed by the government.

Clara Canchi, 21, Villa Crespo, student

We just put all of our rubbish on the street as there aren’t that many options to recycle. There is a place in Villa Crespo where we take our old electronic goods and they recycle them and use the materials inside them to make other things. Maybe the government should encourage more people to recycle these things so that we are more aware.

Saravia Gianella, 35, Moreno, housewife

I am from Peru originally and it is much the same as here, we just put our rubbish onto the streets. We do try and recycle some things like clothes but I wouldn’t know where to go to recycle electronic goods. I do know that the waste is dangerous though, especially in the form of water contamination.

 
Luis Queros, 55, Palermo, chef

I do recycle old electronic goods such as computers and they go to worthwhile places such as hospitals and schools. Most people are too lazy to care though and throw out old phones and other electronic goods onto the street. I think it is terrible, people need to start to care more and instead of leaving everything in the landfill site, we should recycle things more so it is less polluting for the environment.

Jamie Eidman, 70, Palermo, works in an electronic store

Yes, of course it is such a bad thing that we don’t think and our society creates so much damaging electronic waste. Not just in Argentina but everywhere especially in US. We should put all of the electronic waste in the sea and cover it with cement, that way we would not have any contamination. I am old but this will be a big issue for young people and the government should address the issue as soon as possible.

Ceamse ecologia urbana (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

On 23rd May, inhabitants of the Zavaleta neighbourhood marched against the Ecological Coordination Metropolitan Area State’s Society (Ceamse), the public company responsible for urban waste management in the City of Buenos Aires and in the Greater Buenos Aires. Demonstrators demanded the immediate closure of its new open dump, which they claim is a health hazard that violates their rights to a healthy environment and to a dignified life.

Ceamse’s latest expansion in the area was carried out after a national competitive bidding aimed at the future construction of a plant for sorting and processing barren wastes—rubble and construction waste—as part of a transfer station. This would be the company’s third property in Zavaleta, apart from the offices and waste treatment plant.

As Alfredo Vega, Ceamse’s spokesperson, explains “the premises at Zavaleta 1130 are destined for the construction of a transfer plant for dry waste. The idea is to relocate the transfer plant already operating in Varela [Greater Buenos Aires] to Zavaleta. (…) We still don’t have an opening date and the space is almost unused.”

However, although the premises’ conditioning is to start on 7th June, protestors say the company has been operating there since March. In contrast to Vega’s declaration and according to sources from the neighbourhood, the improvised opening of the property in Zavaleta—in the extreme south of the city— was triggered by the increasing amount of waste generated in the city and by the forced closure of Ceamse’s dumps in Villa Soldati.

And, they add, instead of being a transfer plant, it is currently being used as an open rubbish dump. “There was way too much rubbish (…) but they were forced to leave the area because of the complaints from the locals and the surrounding sports clubs of San Lorenzo and Riestra, the Spanish club, and the nearby kindergarten,” expressed a neighbour from Zavaleta, who preferred not to be named.

The company is also obliged to set up and abide by security measures, which include installing devices to mitigate the premises’ impact both at an environmental and sanitary level.

A dump truck rolls into the site at Zavaleta (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

“They have to set up a shower system to moisten the waste and thus prevent dust from rising up and polluting the air we breathe,” explain sources from the grouped neighbours against Ceamse. “According to the bidding, a set of concrete retaining walls and flooring should be built before the area is inaugurated and used.” At the moment the open dump is only surrounded by a fence and ordinary brick walls.

Health Hazard

Carina Quispe, director of Environment Policy for the NGO Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), expands: “Ceamse’s authorities are aware of the general rejection they are subjected to. Rubbish can be recycled and revaluated, especially if people get into the habit of separating waste. Yet, there’s still a fraction of waste that needs to be taken to landfills due to the lack of political will and resources. (…) So begins the ‘not in my back yard’ or NIMBY effect, which is only worsened by an unplanned urbanisation, lax controls and disinformation. If Ceamse is a state company and the state is the main controller in the country, who controls the state?

“However, municipalities, not rubbish companies, are responsible for the inauguration of open dumps. These are allowed by the government when landfills are not enough to contain all the waste.”

And while Diego Santilli, minister of Environment and Public Space for the City of Buenos Aires, denies that Ceamse’s new dump and other premises will affect Zavaleta’s quality of life, figures suggest otherwise.

A comparative medical survey of diarrhoea and gastroenteritis diseases, respiratory infections and skin abscesses/boils amongst others, was carried out during the years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. The investigation, supported by Dr. Diego Vacchino from Health Centre No30, exposes the impact of Ceamse’s activities in Zavaleta before the new dumping began.

It concluded that there has been a 23.9% increase in maladies, with an alarming rise in the following:

• Respiratory tract infections in children aged 0 to 12: 52.99%.
• Acute bronchitis in people older than 13 years: 90.72%.
• Skin abscesses/boils in people older than 13 years: 233%.

Bulldozer pushes garbage in a landfill (Photo: Mariana Díaz-Vaccaro for Greenpeace)

Quispe adds: “Uncontrolled dumping affects the air we breathe, soil and groundwater. This is worsened by insects and animals that may spread diseases affecting both wildlife and humans.”

Moreover, the constant traffic of dump trucks carrying in overflowing trash containers is detrimental to Zavaleta’s often fragile housing infrastructure. Deep structural cracks in houses’ walls and numerous broken window glasses were registered by the neighbours. “Repairing those windows could cost us near $200, and there are many in the neighbourhood who cannot afford it,” claim local sources.

Yet the new premises’ construction drawings simply ignore and omit the existence of Zavaleta’s residents.
Vega, on the other hand, replied to the accusations assuring that the conflict is a result of “a general ignorance on the subject. The new premises will only be used to transfer rubble and construction waste, but people think there will be household waste treated in the new plant. So far, we have had some interviews with the people of Zavaleta to inform them about our project. That’s where we stand today: we are in the process of explaining and negotiating with the neighbours.”

According to Ceamse, an environmental impact assessment was carried out before approving the project. Also, the company assures an agreement on the subject was reached with the neighbours before opening the new premises.

Legal Framework

The city of Buenos Aires broke a historical record in 2010. According to Greenpeace Argentina, the metropolis generates more than 5,000 tonnes of rubbish every day. And Ceamse’s monopoly over rubbish collection means it has profited from increased waste.

Law 9111, created by the military junta in 1978, states that 21 Buenos Aires’ municipalities, including the City, must “exclusively” use the landfill system to dispose of their waste, and only by means of the Ceamse. A true windfall considering the company charges an estimate of $66 per ton of waste.

However, according to the reformed National Constitution, the national government is responsible for dictating the minimum standards for environmental protection. These should be abided by in the length and breadth of the country, while each province reserves the right to complement those standards.

In view of that, the national government sanctioned law 25,916 in 2004 to regulate household waste. This, as Quispe explains, “implies the minimization and revaluation of rubbish”.

Greenpeace protests for the implementation of the 'ley de basura cero' (Photo: Mariana Dîaz-vaccaro for Greenpeace)

And, in 2006, Buenos Aires sanctioned the ‘Zero Waste’ law (no 1,854). It establishes a gradual reduction in the disposal of solid waste through the adoption of a set of measures aimed at the reduction in waste generation, selective separation, recovery and recycling in the city.

“The collection contract is very costly, especially in the city of Buenos Aires. Cleaning it costs about $1.5bn. There is an obvious tension between rubbish companies, unions [related to the transportation of waste] and politics. The main problem is to solve this tension amidst the new legal landscape. (…) Recovering and recycling work towards minimizing landfills, which makes the rubbish business less profitable,” clarifies Quispe.

Although minister Santilli assures the premises are “equipped with the latest technology to suit the zero waste law”, rubbish is still irresponsibly treated. “Even though the national law and the zero waste law do not refer to garbage collection companies, they affect them indirectly,” argues Quispe.

In contrast, minister Santilli stated in an official press release that “this new plant meets all the requirements to order the activity and be more effective in contributing to the spirit of the Law of Zero Waste. We have the environmental impact study issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, (…) we have appropriate systems for effective control of discharges without causing nuisance to neighbours.”

A History of Conflict

For the residents of Zavaleta, the current conflict is another episode in a long-running history of trouble with Ceamse.

The state built housing projects tower over a pile of garbage which waits for collection as residents of the Zavaleta villa comb through for treasures (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

The neighbourhood, which is beside shantytowns 21 and 24, was originally conceived as a set of provisional premises in the government’s assistance programme to alleviate the housing crisis back in 1968. It was born as the Transitional Housing Complex Zavaleta (NHTZ).

It was not until 2007—almost 40 years later—that the government finished the first phase of the housing project. Consequently, considering the population’s growth and given the successive economic crisis, nowadays Zavaleta displays a heterogeneous landscape. From precarious huts to new apartment blocks, the living conditions vary enormously.

Ceamse, meanwhile, established its offices and other premises in Zavaleta more than 30 years ago. Part of the delay in the completion of the NHTZ project is attributed to the company’s expansion in the area.

The NHTZ project explicitly demanded that, by the time the first housing complex was delivered, Ceamse would have to withdraw its landfills and dumps—though not its offices—from Zavaleta.

And while the government remains silent, the neighbours continue to fight for their rights. One of them, a 30-year old male, illustrates: “The local school’s principal asked for an audition with Ceamse’s authorities. She told them about the teachers’ staff and parents’ concerns about our children’s health issues. They told her to ignore the diseases. Can you believe it?”

In 2006 the Ley de Basura Cero (Zero Rubbish Law) passed Congress in Argentina, stating that the amount of garbage for the entire country should decrease by 30% before 2010. The reality is that nowadays more than 5,000 tonnes of waste are removed each day from the capital and put straight into landfills, leaving the 30% rubbish decrease unrealised.

So what do porteños know about this? Are they aware of the Ley de Basura Cero and do they know where their trash finally goes? How clean is Buenos Aires in their opinion and what do they think of the collection of garbage around the city?

Lucila Herreda, 19, medical student, Microcentro

I think Buenos Aires is in general a very dirty city; when I am just walking through a random street in the city I see waste or any other form of pollution everywhere. Of course it depends in which area of the city you are, but in general I perceive it as quite dirty. Our government is not doing a lot to combat this and it seems like in some parts of the city they do not clean at all! I know that some poorer parts of the city look terrible and waste just gets dumped in their backyard. But honestly, I can not say a lot about this since I rarely come to these areas of town. But what I strongly believe is that we, people of Buenos Aires, should do our part to keep the city clean; right now, we are not aware enough and produce a lot of waste by ourselves. If everyone would pay some more attention to keeping our city clean and be more aware of that, we can decrease the problem, although little by little.

Marta Estevez, 77, dressmaker, Caballito

I do not perceive our  city as clean, but neither as dirty. In general I do think it is much more cleaner outside Buenos Aires, in the province, than here. For example Mendoza, I see that as such a clean city; when you are there it seems you are in an entirely different country. In my opinion this has mainly to do with manners and education. Since there are no punishments or anything – nothing will happen if you just throw your garbage on the ground – people keep doing it. It is the fault of the people, nobody cares! That is the thing we should change; our own behaviour. I have the feeling that people outside the city are more aware of this and better educated. The government should stimulate this and in this manner help to keep the city clean.

Damian Oliver, 42, musician, Villa Crespo

When I only have a look in the streets of Buenos Aires I perceive it as a very dirty city. People should learn and be educated in how to deal with their garbage instead of throwing everything on the ground. Our government does not care about next to the fact the national and city government never agree about it; Macri [Buenos Aires city mayor, Mauricio Macri] is a person who is not paying any attention  to this matter and in general it looks like for him, the total southern part of the city does not exist. I do not think the way garbage is collected in the city has a lot to do with the pollution in the city – since I think that is generally good – main problems are caused because it finally often got dumped in the province; so many discussions between national and city government come up which I think is the main reason of the pollution problems.

Cristian Argañaraz, 29, electrician, Caballito

In general I think the rubbish collection in our city is good; people get paid well and I think they are doing a great job. Though; I think Buenos Aires is a very dirty city which is mainly caused by ourselves. We should be more aware of it and the government should educate us, also in things as separate our garbage for example. Especially Macrí; he does not have a national goal in mind and no intentions to do something with this pollution of the city; it looks like he does not even see it! Besides, the national and city government never get to an agreement concerning rules of rubbish collection. Have a look at the southern part of the city; terrible the situation over there; it looks like a complete different city! Not only because the government pays hardly any attention to keep the southern parts of the city clean, but also because of a complete different family culture and habits over there. People are even less educated in thing concerning hygiene and environment. Concerning the responsibility of the government in the southern parts of town; I do not know when or if this will ever change, anyways under the head of Macrí definitely not; for him this part does not have the name ‘Buenos Aires’.

Javier Mason, 38, teacher, Caballito

In general I think Buenos Aires is quite a dirty city, but I think this is inevitable in a big city. Besides it highly depends of the area your are in, for example the situation in the southern parts of the city; terrible. Main reason of it is that people who are living there are less consciousness about environment and way to keep the city clean; apart from the fact that the government acts like this part of town not exist and does not pay any attention to keep it clean. In contrary, rubbish got often dumped there, which is not only rubbish we are producing, but even more rubbish from the big industries. I think that these industries are a key factor concerning the city’s pollution. Also the government should pay more attention to it; for example the Riachuelo river, a complete disaster!