Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: When Garbage Becomes a Problem

By - - and IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

CARACAS, Jan 12 2009 (IPS) - Groups of vandals set fire to a landfill where 65,000 tons of solid waste, collected in the north-western Venezuelan city of Maracaibo over the last week of December and the first days of January, had been dumped. Dozens of residents from surrounding areas had to be treated for respiratory complaints.

“It’s another sign of the lack of proper policies and coordination among national, regional and, especially, municipal authorities, which has turned solid waste disposal into Venezuela’s worst environmental problem,” Diego Díaz, head of the environmental organization Vitalis, said to Tierramérica.

The Nov. 23 local elections brought changes in some of the administrations, with mayors disagreeing on the issue of waste disposal. The trash problem is featured prominently in newspapers throughout the country — including Caracas –, which describe cities as “suffocated” and “surrounded” by garbage or “carpeted,” “overflowing,” and “packed” with garbage.