Rosamélia de Abreu
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The Brazilian government wants to encourage the utilization of gases produced in garbage dumps and sanitary landfills around the country to generate energy and reduce the negative impact on the environment. Brazil produces 160 thousand tons of garbage each day, and 31% of the residues released into the environment do not receive adequate treatment and thus produce gases that end up contributing to the greenhouse gas effect and raising the temperature of the planet.

The Ministry of Cities will invest US$ 979 thousand this year on projects to improve solid waste management and reduce gas emissions.

Sérgio Bueno, a technical adviser in the Ministry's Secretariat of Environmental Sanitation, affirmed that, adhering to the goals established in the Kyoto Protocol (an international treaty providing for the reduction of gas emissions responsible for the greenhouse effect), the federal government wants to encourage the use of gases produced in garbage dumps and sanitary landfills to generate energy and reduce the negative impact on the environment. According to Bueno, Brazil intends to conduct feasibility studies on the utilization of biogas in landfills and dumps for energy production, through the conversion of methane (CH4) into carbon dioxide (CO2), which will reduce the impact of the greenhouse effect. Methane is released by the decomposition of organic wastes and "causes an impact 21 times worse than carbon gas in terms of the greenhouse effect," the technical specialist explained.

Translation: David Silberstein