In an integrated operation of the Ministry of the Environment, the Secretariat for the Environment in Rio de Janeiro and the Duque de Caxias city council, about 70 illegal landfills were embargoed on Saturday (11/7) in the district of Jardim Gramacho.
The minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc, who participated in the operation, said that the illegal dumping activity in areas around the Gramacho Landfill - which legally receives the waste from all cities of Grande Rio - endangers not only the mangroves of Baía de Guanabara but the health of people living in the region and the flights of Tom Jobim International Airport, due to the proliferation of vultures.
"It was a large-scale operation, the result of weeks of investigation", said the minister. Soon after the seizure of 21 trucks that were dumping trash illegally, the region began to be cleaned-up, with the removal of illegal material. From a total of 14 entrances to the landfill, three were blocked and the others are now being monitored to permit only the entry of trucks allowed to dump garbage in the site.
A team of about 60 people - including agents from Ibama, Cicca (Coordination of Combating Environmental Crime), state Secretariat for the Environment, military policemen and municipal guards of Caxias - took part in the operation.
The agents came across about 70 illegal landfills in the rear of houses and sheds around the Gramacho landfill. About 20 thousand people live in the district of Jardim Gramacho - half working at trash collecting. Daily, dozens of trucks entered the place with illegal garbage.
According to the coordinator of the operation, Jose Maurício Padrone, the trucks carried garbage from supermarkets, malls and even hospitals, which pay for the material to be deposited in special legalized landfills. But, to save money, the drivers dumped the garbage illegally in areas around the Gramacho landfill.
Minc said that the operation was scheduled following an application from Infraero, who was concerned with the proliferation of vultures in the region, which increases the risk of collisions of birds and the planes that land and take off from the international airport.
The minister also said that the illegal landfills stimulate the proliferation of rats and cockroaches, which can lead to diseases. And the material left after the withdrawal of the collectors accumulates on the bottom of the mangroves of Baía da Guanabara, destroying this vegetation.
Redes Sociais