Guía para el diseño construcción y operación de rellenos sanitarios manuales para poblaciones menores a 30.000 habitantes

Abstract

Population growth, as well as industrial development, urbanization and other processes and effects of development experienced by Latin American countries, have been producing a considerable increase in the amount and variety of solid waste generated in the activities developed by the population. The problems caused by improper handling of this waste are affecting both large cities and their marginal areas, as well as small rural populations. In many Municipalities, the empirical management of the urban cleaning service, with an obvious lack of technical, economic and social criteria, has caused this service to lack proper planning and organization, which has resulted in high operating costs than the same Municipalities have had to subsidize consuming a good part of their budget. As a consequence of the above, it is the permanent economic deficit that exists in a large number of cleaning services and, the inadequate practices of final disposal of garbage, which due to lack of resources, interest or technical knowledge are discharged inappropriately inside or outside of urban areas, giving rise to a number of scattered landfills, which generate, among others, a social and public health problem. The social problem is based on people who are dedicated to segregating and marketing waste, who perform these activities in unacceptable risky and precarious conditions in a modern society. The danger to public health arises in the same dumps, which in addition to causing bad odors and aesthetic problems, are the cradle and habitat of flies, rats and other vectors of diseases and sources of air pollution or surface or underground water sources. The above could be controlled, if the final disposal of the garbage was done in a suitable way, such as a sanitary landfill operated correctly, which would also allow to prevent contamination.