Last weekend's mysterious fire that, happily for the Algarve’s waste company freed up scarce landfill space by buring tonnes of dumped rubbish, is under the spotlight from environmental organisation, Almargem, which has demanded an independent inquiry.
The Sotavento Sanitary Landfill run by Algar is located in Vale do Zebro near Cortelha in Loulé, and "had a 20-year shelf life at the time of its inauguration in the year 2000. The increase in the volume of waste deposited, due in part to the unexpected and recent increase in the percentage of recyclable waste into the common waste, has led to its current depletion." (i.e lack of available space).
Loulé council accepted in principal Algar’s application to expand the site but has been dithering over issuing a licence, mainly sue to Algar, presided over by Tomas Joaquim da Oliveira Serra, not having completed some of the legally required compensatory environmental measures, but the fire then freed up valuable dumping space.
The fire, "whose causes remain unknown, obviously enables a sudden increase in (the landfill site’s) capacity, albeit with a serious deterioration in safety and operational conditions, including the emission of gases, in the destruction of waterproofing screens and in the biogas collection system,” claims Almargem.
The environmental organisation requires “the urgent preparation of an independent report (not by Algar) which will indicate the true causes of the fire at the Sotavento Sanitary Landfill and the consequences to its short-term operations.”
Almargem also wants to see “a thorough reanalysis of the impacts of the landfill site over its 17 years of existence, namely on the main access roads, on the nearest settlements (Vale Maria Dias, Cortelha), and on the surrounding ecosystems, in particular the Rio Vascão."
Another of the association's requirements is to "set up an evaluation committee for the work carried out in recent years by Algar, and other entities, mainly with regard to the continuous awareness of citizens about the separation of waste and its effective recycling."
According to Público, another controversial part of Algar’s operations has been the increase in dumping areas at the Loulé site, from two to three, and the resulting destruction of protected oak trees in an area of National Ecological Reserve.
