The Cleaning Operation Center (CON Cleaning), headed by the Minister of the Presidency in charge, Carlos García, received this morning the Diagnostic Report on the Cerro Patacón Landfill prepared by specialists from the Technological University of Panama (UTP).
At the meeting, held in the Paz Hall of the Presidency, García thanked the UTP specialists for preparing a detailed report on the situation of the Cerro Patacón landfill and providing recommendations on the spaces and alternatives that should be evaluated to achieve solutions in the short, medium and long term.
The study showed that more than 60% of the waste from the sanitary landfill can be recovered if work is done to optimize the operation. Among the recommendations of the UTP are the relocation of people (recyclers), control of the entry of hazardous waste, that the operator must have a plan to deduct unloading times, carry out the separation of special waste; and improve the landfill gas extraction and conduction system.
The Minister of the Presidency in charge added that a financial assessment of these recommendations is now missing and, subsequently, CON Aseo will design a proposal to present it to the Executive, which will make the decision on the issue of Cerro Patacón.
“Thanks to the UTP, today we have adequate evidence of the state of the company that managed the Cerro Patacón landfill,” García said.
Last April, the Government declared a state of environmental emergency in the Cerro Patacón sanitary landfill to carry out an inter-institutional intervention, in order to mitigate and restore the environmental damage caused in the place.
UTP specialists in soil, residual water and waste management, among others, analyzed the environmental situation in 132 hectares of the Cerro Patacón sanitary landfill.
The Minister of the Environment, Milciades Concepción, stated that with this diagnostic study there is a roadmap to define the Government’s actions in the short term and start the corresponding work.
The members of CON Aseo participated in the meeting; the Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre; the Vice Minister of Public Works, Librada Giselle De Frías; the administrator of the Urban and Home Cleaning Authority, Alonso Filos Avecilla and the Rector of the Technological University of Panama, Omar Olmedo Aizpurúa Pino, among others.
