by Rod Hughes
We’ve heard it so many times that when Minister of Health Maria Luisa Avila seriously announced the definitive closure of the Rio Azul landfill near Cartago July 31, one is tempted to laugh.
The landfill, which opened in 1973, has faced a series of deadlines, some of which that passed almost unnoticed and always without action, victims of a lack of political will. The problem was that alternate sites were vehemently opposed by residents with the attitude, “Sure we need landfills. Just put them in someone else’s neighborhood.”
But Minister Avila is well aware of this, so she rejected the proposal of the landfill administrators to extend the life of the rubbish site another two years, pleading that they have only half the money necessary to do the proper final filling and needed more garbage to build up a stable drainage system to prevent landslides.
“For 12 years we’ve been closing this landfill,” she said, noting that the contract is up July 31. In 1994, the government closed the fill—for four days. Two years later, the Health Ministry closed it for all of three days. In 1996, disgruntled neighbors closed the fill and the government reopened it by force. In September of 2005, the fill was supposed to close but the Health Ministry extended the contract.
The minister added that the municipalities that use Rio Azul can use the newer La Carpio site and the brand new Aserrí landfill. Right now, Rio Azul currently receives 500 tons per day from eight municipalities as far away as Alajuela.
Wednesday, 80 “buzos” (literally, “divers”) who sift the refuse for recycleable and reuseable items mounted a partial shutdown of the facility to protest the impending closure.