The government of the Argentine capital is depositing twice the volume of solid waste in sanitary landfills than is allowed under the 2005 “zero garbage” law. Through recycling and separation of materials, the law aimed to reach 2010 with 30 percent less garbage than in 2004, but by last year it was dumping twice the base amount. Buenos Aires should have dumped less than one million tons, but ended up with more than 1.8 million.

“This year we are going to have a similar amount because nothing is being done,” Juan Carlos Villalonga, director of Greenpeace-Argentina, told Tierramérica.

He is convinced that “residents are absolutely willing” to sort out dry and damp waste, but he said there are no public campaigns and little political will to make the changes established by the law.