Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Cleaning Up a Garbage Dump

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CARACAS, Oct 24 2005 (IPS) - The local authorities in Valencia, 80 km west of Caracas, have launched a program to clean up La Guásima garbage dump. The 2.5 million dollar project will include the construction of a solid waste treatment plant, waste classification pits and leaching ponds, reported Mayor Argenis Loreto. At both La Guásima and La Bonanza, the ironic name of the Caracas garbage dump, “there are hundreds of people working, gathering reusable materials, but exposing themselves to diseases, because hazardous wastes from hospitals are not separated from the rest,” Giorgio Restori of the non-governmental organization Participemos told Tierramérica.

According to Rosa María Gil, director of environmental affairs in Valencia, there are around 1,500 people working in the La Guásimo. Venezuela currently has no policies or regulations for the classification of wastes before their disposal and collection.