Permanent closure of the Santa Marta sanitary landfill
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Addressed to: Government of Chile and 1 more
For 15 years the people who live around this landfill have seen how they have destroyed farmland with leachate produced by the landfill. We have supported for years odors, the gradual disappearance of protected species, invasion of flies and mice in homes and plots. But our worst nightmare became a reality when on Monday 20 January there was a collapse of trash and subsequent fire causing a serious environmental conflict. Smoke covered the communes of Talagante, Maipu, Santiago, San Bernardo, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Maipo Island, La Islita and this smoke and stench with the passing of the hours reached Barnechea and Las Condes. Despite all efforts to try to lower the profile of this fire, Scientists at the University of Chile, represented by Raul Morales, Director of this institution, stated to the newspaper La Tercera "Faced with this type of occasional fires and high risk are associated a number of elements such as plastics, synthetic materials which generate chemical elements that should be monitored to take appropriate measures, is not unaware of the fact that the burning of plastics at low temperatures other chemical contaminants like Buranos appear, dioxins and there should be monitoring from the moment the process starts, a company MUST HAVE the necessary elements for monitoring from the moment that the fire starts. The scientist said also "all industrial activities cannot be located in the southern area of Santiago because we know that winds down to the basin, to locate a high-risk industry in this area will always be exposed to this type of emergency. This landfill was always misplaced, no responsible political and technical about it.
After the fire and collapse of the garbage, the residents of this landfill have been invaded by bad smells, flies and mice produced a high level of stress on families by the constant fear that our children and adults sick.
Santa Marta company has informed through press releases on its website saying it has provided help to the neighbors, which is completely false. Support has come because we constantly are sending emails, calling for the distress situation like we live.
We the affected demand the government of Chile definitively close the Santa Marta Filling to comply with Article 19 of the Chilean Constitution: “Our right to live in a pollution-free environment".
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