Garbage pick-up will not resume today as the CEAMSE recycling stations continue to be blocked by workers since Sunday.

The city government is asking the CEAMSE union (AGOEC) to use its “rationality” in the issue.

The secretary general of the AGOEC Jorge Mancini, explained that the reclamation of the plants is the “final alternative” before the “imminent collapse” of the sanitation sites.

The blocks come in part of a waste-refuse feud between the city and the province. On Saturday, the province of Buenos Aires, where the landfill and recycling sites are located, told the city that it had to 30 days to reduce the amount of waste coming in from the centre. Workers predict that if waste is not reduced, that the Jose Leon Suarez landfill will collapse by March 2013. This site is estimated to already be between 150 to 160 hectares.

However, the city governor said that reducing waste by 50% within the next 30 days is “completely near impossible”.

Workers also feel that the city has not fulfilled the Zero Waste Act of 2005.

“The situation is worrying because they have not realized the [2005 law] and the provincial law to reduce the volume of refuse,” stated Mancini.

Recently, Mayor Macri welcomed Greenpeace’s “Rainbow Warrior” ship and was urged by the interest group to enforce the Zero Waste Act.

The minister of the environment, Diego Santilli, has tweeted “They have continued to block CEAMSE … Please do not take out the garbage”.

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.”

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.

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 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.

After an agreement was reached between the national Ministry of Labour and CEAMSE sanitary workers, waste collection was scheduled to continue as normal. Large black garbage bags had piled up on the streets of Buenos Aires since yesterday when workers halted all trucks from entering landfills and transfer facilities.

Workers had voiced concern over the 15 thousand tonnes of garbage produced every day from the city and province of Buenos Aires and demanded that government officials work to reduce emissions, create new landfills, and enforce the Zero Waste Law that was approved in 2005.

The CEAMSE union maintains that there will be an environmental collapse across the capital and its suburbs by mid-2013 if no one challenges the status quo.

In response to the union´s concerns, city government promised “to operate waste treatment plants and lower the amount of trash. ”

According to Pagina 12, Argentina´s Minister of Environment Diego Santilli had urged residents “not to take out trash” to avoid further accumulation of debris in the street, and suggested that the protest had a political background.

The strike was intended to last 48 hours and effect the landfills and transfer plants that process all solid waste from the city and province including North 3, González Catán and Ensenada, and Flores, Pompeya and Almirante Brown, respectively.

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.

“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%.

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”.

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 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?”

On a cold Sunday night in June, sitting on plastic chairs in a grey town hall in the Buenos Aires suburban town of Ciudad Evita, a dozen residents are gathered. They have heard that a landfill is going to be constructed just outside their town to receive rubbish produced in the city of Buenos Aires – and they have decided to stop it.

Like every Sunday since December 2007, they have come with material to boost their fighting spirit. Various banners with sentences such as ‘to bury rubbish is to bury our future’ are brandied, a gigantic picture of Evita’s face covered in a gasmask is pinned on the wall and printed on t-shirts sold for $30.

Ciudad Evita, a city of 68,000 residents whose shape is designed to look like Eva Duarte de Perón’s profile when seen from the sky, is a quiet town. With its one-storey red brick houses, its parks, woods and sports centre, the city offers a peaceful lifestyle just 21km west of Buenos Aires.

“We are very worried,” says Néstor Abalo, one of the residents. “Landfills have proved to be very dangerous for people’s health as toxic elements infiltrate the earth, water and air.”

He decided to take action after hearing the residents’ experiences in the city of Gonzales Catán, where the most active landfill of the province is installed. Locals have been diagnosed with cancer, allergies, hepatitis and tuberculosis and blame it on the landfill. They say it emanates acid and gas fumes, which are contaminating their water.

Like Abalo, hundreds of residents have decided to uncross their arms and have set up the ‘Asamblea de vecinos autoconvocados’ (Assembly of self-convened residents). They have no official status, a new president is chosen every month, and the group comprises professionals working in diverse fields such as geology, engineering and law among others, who all dedicate their free time to the cause.

Marching on the streets, blocking an alley of the motorway every first Sunday of the month, and handing out information door to door: the residents promise they won’t give up. They are convinced they have enough reasons not to.

Archaeological value

Apart from the landfill being a health hazard, the neighbours also point out the historical value of the land. “Ciudad Evita is a national monument, and we can’t let anyone destroy her profile,” states Abalo. The location of the future construction, on 24 hectares of land next to the motorway, also has an important archaeological value. “It is where the Corpus Christi battle was fought between the Indians and the Spanish, and where Mendoza’s brother died in 1536,” he specifies. “We can’t allow history to be turned into a dustbin!”