With the average person generating around 750g of trash per day and little to no recycling programs, 8 million people suffer daily the consequences of waste un-management. Lima´s amount of waste can only be compared in the region with urban giants like México D.F and Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: El Comercio
Unlike other countries in the region that’s trash is distributed around their different cities, Lima is home of 1/3 of all the trash that the country generates. 21.5 tons of waste daily is what the city has to digest, but a short drive in the biggest districts around the city will prove that this sanitation problem is long from being solved. Often the poorer districts like San Juan de Lurigancho, Cercado de Lima, Comas, etc. are the most affected ones. Sometimes mounds of trash are just sitting in the roads for weeks, without anyone taking care of them. This can be an important health hazard for the already poverty struck population of those districts, that become more vulnerable to gastrointestinal infections, skin diseases and respiratory diseases.
Lima´s trashed is mostly (92%) disposed of in 5 main landfills located outside the metropolitan area, in the following districts: Ancón, Puente Piedra, Callao, Lurín and Campoy. The rest of the waste is managed informally, maybe fueled by necessity even though these informal gathering places may not have the sanitation requirements for the trash to be managed correctly.
Even though Lima is in a constant sanitation crisis, some efforts of keeping a clean city are found. For example, some supermarkets give out biodegradable plastic bags. In a specific district, they have a truck that compacts the residue and then stores it in a modern underground waste storage facility.
Another important issue is not only the trash, but the sewer´s waste is not properly managed. In Lima, most of the sewer´s residues are just thrown out to “La Chira”, which is a beach located in Chorrillos, really close by to the metropolis. Starting next year, a solution to the sewer´s residue problems will be treated. A new treating plant managed by Spanish and Peruvian concessionaries will be in charge of purifying the contaminated water before being dumped on the sea. It will have a 23 m deep, 3.6 km long submarine emissary from the plant to the sea. It will treat a water flow of 11,30 m2 per second. When it is finished by March 2015, it will benefit around 2,600,000 people. The plant will also produce water to irrigate green areas around them and their main goal is to recuperate the beaches that have been long contaminated around that zone. (ACCIONA)
Of the 30% of waste that can be recycled, only 12% did (2012). This means that Peruvians don´t have a recycling culture, or perhaps simply the government don´t have any recycling programs in its districts. In any case, we young Peruvians have the responsibility to conserve our various world renowned ecosystems, and preserve the natural treasures that put Our country in the eyes of the world.
Nicolás Dawson
Unlike other countries in the region that’s trash is distributed around their different cities, Lima is home of 1/3 of all the trash that the country generates. 21.5 tons of waste daily is what the city has to digest, but a short drive in the biggest districts around the city will prove that this sanitation problem is long from being solved. Often the poorer districts like San Juan de Lurigancho, Cercado de Lima, Comas, etc. are the most affected ones. Sometimes mounds of trash are just sitting in the roads for weeks, without anyone taking care of them. This can be an important health hazard for the already poverty struck population of those districts, that become more vulnerable to gastrointestinal infections, skin diseases and respiratory diseases.
Lima´s trashed is mostly (92%) disposed of in 5 main landfills located outside the metropolitan area, in the following districts: Ancón, Puente Piedra, Callao, Lurín and Campoy. The rest of the waste is managed informally, maybe fueled by necessity even though these informal gathering places may not have the sanitation requirements for the trash to be managed correctly.
Even though Lima is in a constant sanitation crisis, some efforts of keeping a clean city are found. For example, some supermarkets give out biodegradable plastic bags. In a specific district, they have a truck that compacts the residue and then stores it in a modern underground waste storage facility.
Another important issue is not only the trash, but the sewer´s waste is not properly managed. In Lima, most of the sewer´s residues are just thrown out to “La Chira”, which is a beach located in Chorrillos, really close by to the metropolis. Starting next year, a solution to the sewer´s residue problems will be treated. A new treating plant managed by Spanish and Peruvian concessionaries will be in charge of purifying the contaminated water before being dumped on the sea. It will have a 23 m deep, 3.6 km long submarine emissary from the plant to the sea. It will treat a water flow of 11,30 m2 per second. When it is finished by March 2015, it will benefit around 2,600,000 people. The plant will also produce water to irrigate green areas around them and their main goal is to recuperate the beaches that have been long contaminated around that zone. (ACCIONA)
Of the 30% of waste that can be recycled, only 12% did (2012). This means that Peruvians don´t have a recycling culture, or perhaps simply the government don´t have any recycling programs in its districts. In any case, we young Peruvians have the responsibility to conserve our various world renowned ecosystems, and preserve the natural treasures that put Our country in the eyes of the world.
Nicolás Dawson