Recife, July 21, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The National Congress must conclude the National Solid Wastes Program, a project that has been under legislative scrutiny for over four years. This warning was sounded on Thursday by Professor Arlindo Philippi Júnior, from the University of São Paulo (USP), during a conference on the integrated management of solid wastes, at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society for Scientific Progress (SBPC).
According to the scientist, Brazil is in urgent need of specific legislation to deal with what is a question of public health. In his view, the country also needs trained professionals to act in this area. "We have the technical and technological resources, but we lack personnel trained to manage the treatment and final disposal of these wastes," he said. Philippi Júnior explained that each type of waste (household, industrial, hospital, and agricultural) requires special treatment.
Open-air garbage deposits - the so-called garbage heaps - constitute a chronic problem affecting small, medium, and large cities across Brazil. Studies show that the quantity of urban garbage is directly related to per capita income of the population. The more developed the city, the larger the quantity of garbage that is produced. The problem is so serious that the Brazilian Agenda 21 contains five chapters on the matter.
Among Brazil's more than 5,500 municipalities, only 2% treat their solid wastes in an adequate manner, with selective collection, storage in sanitary waste-fills, and processes for recycling and making compost of the materials. Among the municipalities with fewer than 20 thousand residents, 71% deposit their wastes in garbage heaps. "Untreated urban wastes are big sources of diseases and pollution. And these sources are scattered over all parts of the country," lamented Professor Armando Borges de Castilho, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).
Each year, Brazil produces approximately 100 million tons of garbage, of which only 1% is recycled. The United States produces 220 million tons, annually, and recycles over 40%. In Europe, the average of recycled solid wastes corresponds to more than 50% of the garbage produced. "We are marking time. The collection and selective treatment of urban wastes are important instruments of social and economic development," assured Professor José Fernando Jucá, from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). According to Jucá, in the past four years, Portugal has invested US$ 1 billion in the integrated management of its solid wastes, while, during the same period, Brazil spent little more than US$ 30 million.
The three speakers also emphasized that Brazilian society needs to enhance its awareness that urban garbage is not residue and almost all of it can be economically re-exploited. Organic material can be transformed into fertilizer, and biomass can generate electricity. Paper, glass, plastic, and aluminum, once recycled, return to circulation in the form of new products. It is proof of Lavoisier's old scientific maxim that nothing is lost, all is transformed, even more so when technology is available to make it come true. (DAS)
