The «urgent preparation of an independent report (and not Algar's) that indicates the true causes of the fire on Saturday, 24 June, at the Sotavento Sanitary Landfill», in Cortelha, is one of the demands of the Almargem Association.
According to Almargem, this fire "was of internal origin", although the causes remain "unknown, obviously causing a sudden increase in its capacity, although with a serious impact on safety and operational conditions, including the emission of toxic gases, the destruction of the screens waterproofing and the biogas collection system'.
Another of the association's requirements involves the «constitution of a committee to assess the work carried out in recent years by Algar, and other entities, essentially with regard to the continuous awareness of citizens regarding the separation of waste and its effective referral to the ranks of recycling», explains Almargem.
This landfill had a useful life of 20 years, when it opened in 2008. But «the increase in the volume of waste deposited, everything indicates due, in part, to the unexpected and recent increase in the percentage of incorporation of recyclable waste in common garbage led to its current depletion», according to Almargem.
According to the Público newspaper, another controversial aspect, "related to the increase in the number of cells in the landfill from two to three, concerns the felling of cork oaks".
"Anticipating the decision of the Municipal Assembly on the request to expand this infrastructure, the company responsible for the collection and recovery of urban solid waste — Algar — ordered the felling of more than a hundred of these protected trees in a National Ecological Reserve (REN) zone." according to the Public.
As for Almargem, he says that «the Municipality of Loulé welcomed Algar's proposal to proceed with the opening of a third cell with certain reservations, claiming that some of the measures to compensate for the environmental and social impacts of this undertaking had not yet been implemented».
Almargem's last requirement involves a «deep re-analysis of the impacts of the Landfill over its 17 years of existence, namely on the locations included in the main access roads, on the nearest villages (Vale Maria Dias, Cortelha), and on the surrounding ecosystems, in particular the Rio Vascão».
Comments