Amazon’s largest metropolis, Manaus suffers from deficient sanitation and an accumulation of ‘addicted’ dumpsters

Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The largest metropolis in the Amazon, located in the middle of the forest, suffers from development, infrastructure and basic sanitation problems. Manaus, affectionately known as the “Paris of the Tropics”, is still taken by “vicious” or clandestine garbage dumps, which are formed in small alleys and even on major avenues. Without effective actions to raise awareness and sensitization on the part of the city government, the points become full of garbage even after the waste has been removed.

This situation occurs from one point to another in the city. According to the Municipal Department of Urban Cleaning (Semulsp), from April to this month, there were 588 addicted garbage dumps. In other words, almost 600 places with irregular garbage disposal in the city were identified, in less than a year, attended by the office.

On Beira Rio avenue, Coroado neighborhood, East zone, a road about 1.3 kilometers long that surrounds an igarapé, the garbage produced in the residences is dumped in several points, where it accumulates waiting to be removed by Semulsp. The “habit” of the residents is old, says Carlos Ferreira*, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years.

“People got used to it. The garbage is thrown at various points along Beira Rio”, he told CENARIUM. “Every night a garbage dump passes by here. They just need to fix it, put a garbage can. In this alley there, the city truck doesn’t enter, so the people come and throw the garbage accumulated here”, detailed the resident of Coroado, who preferred not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

The problem intensifies when the garbage leaves the streets and falls, or is dumped, in the city’s streams that flow into the Rio Negro. Still on Beira Rio Avenue, the banks of the stream are full of waste that is not regularly removed and ends up in the waters, a problem identified at the time of rising rivers, when large piles float in the streams that overflow, invading houses and exhaling a strong odor.

Population finds solution

On the other side of the city, in the Midwest zone, the residents found a solution to centralize the garbage that was spread along the edge of the igarapé. On the long Independência Street, in the Alvorada neighborhood, with almost one kilometer from one side to the other, masonry structures were built by the residents of the area. At the time CENARIUM was on site, part of the waste had already been removed, but it was possible to see what was left of the garbage that is dumped in the improvised dumpster.

Improvised trash can on Independência Street, Alvorada neighborhood, Manaus’ Midwest zone (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

Service by Semulsp

In response to the report, Semulsp said that the mission of the secretariat “is to prevent the site is an irregular point for disposal, making daily collection of waste discarded there, but together sensitizing residents not to make the disposal site, and follow the recommendations for correct disposal.

“The Semulsp has the environmental education teams, which develop approach work (door to door) and community leaders, taking information about the 5Rs (Rethink, Reduce, Recover, Reuse and Recycle), management, correct packaging of waste (Home and Selective Collection) and correct times for disposal, as provided in the Organic Law of the Municipality of Manaus and Decree No. 2.184, March 14, 2013 in its Article 1, “he said.

Also according to the secretary, “this awareness aims to minimize the ‘vicious dumps’ and expansion of selective collection in areas covered by it, as our activities report “.