Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Business
Anthony Boadle

Brasilia closes Latin America's largest rubbish dump

Children work at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

BRASILIA (Reuters) - One thing the designers of Brazil's modernistic capital Brasilia forgot to map out in their intricate plans was where to put the rubbish.

The city's creators, world famous architect Oscar Niemeyer and urban planner Lucio Costa, could never have imagined the city's explosive growth.

A man runs at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Now, 67 years and 50 million tonnes of garbage later, the Estructural dump is the biggest in Latin America.

Until Friday, that is, when Brasilia's dirty secret was closed. Governor Rodrigo Rollemberg opened a new landfill further out of town to replace it, angering thousands of scavengers who make a living from the garbage.

"We cannot live with this open wound in the midst of our nation's capital, a dump where human beings put their lives at risk seeking a livelihood in an undignified way," the governor said at the opening of the new landfill.

A child works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Since the city was founded on a cattle ranch on a highland plateau, Brasilia has expanded to become the nation's fourth-biggest metropolis with some 2.5 million inhabitants.

Just 12 miles (20 kms) from the presidential palace, thousands of scavengers have eked out a living for decades by picking out cans, copper wire and anything that can be recycled and sold.

Generations of pickers have brought their children to work in the dusty dump, beneath a scorching sun and hovering vultures, plagued by swarms of flies and the pungent stench of putrid food and methane gas.

A person works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Rollemberg's plan is to employ the pickers at new "triage" centers in warehouses where garbage can be separated for recycling on conveyor belts in cleaner conditions by workers in uniforms and gloves.

But scavengers working at the dump on its last day said they refused to swap their source of income for regimented government jobs that payed too little to sustain their families.

"I'll have to start working the streets looking through garbage cans," said Evando Souza, 32, who has worked at the dump day-in and day-out for five years.

A child works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Flanked by his three young sons, Souza said in a good month he could take home 3,000 reais ($937), more than three times the minimum salary.

"Today was a lucky day for us," he said, polishing a silver ring they had found and a old model Nokia cellphone.

Souza, his head covered with a dirty T-shirt to protect him from the sun and the flies, said he was thinking of returning to his home state of Maranhão in northeast Brazil.

A person works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 18, 2018. Picture taken January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

While human rights groups criticized precarious conditions and child labor at the dump, environmentalists made the strongest case for closure, warning that it was polluting the water table beneath Brasilia, a city that has already has to ration water supplies due to recurrent droughts.

Populated by well paid government employees, Brasilia has the highest per capita income in the country - and affluent households that produce a lot of garbage.

More than 1,200 tonnes of garbage were dumped every day at the landfill by an endless line of trucks, due to halt at midnight on Friday.

A man works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 18, 2018. Picture taken January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

The closure will impact families living in Ciudad Estructural, an adjacent community started by scavengers that has an estimated 40,000 inhabitants. Many will have a hard time finding alternative jobs as Brazil slowly emerges from its worst recession in decades.

Some members of the 3,000-strong pickers cooperative said they would rather stay working the dump and not have the cost of a long commute to the new recycling centers.

"Rollemberg hasn't offered us a real alternative. We cannot survive on that pay," said Valdir Dutra, who said he has scavenged through the dump's rubbish for 16 years.

A man works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 18, 2018. Picture taken January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

"I'm going to dust off my CV and see what job I can find," he said with a wry smile.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Ueselei Marcelino; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Cynthia Osterman)

A child works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Waste pickers work at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 18, 2018. Picture taken January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A man runs at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A woman works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A person works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 18, 2018. Picture taken January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A man works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A man works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Waste pickers work at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A child works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A child works at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Waste pickers work at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Children hang from a garbage truck at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Waste pickers work at 'Lixao da Estrutural', Latin America's largest rubbish dump, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 18, 2018. Picture taken January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.