Rio de Janeiro closes down Latin America's largest landfill

RIO de JANEIRO (Scrap Monster): Rio De Janeiro May Eduardo Paes and Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira closed down Jardim Gramacho, Latin America’s largest landfill that processed processed 8000 tonnes of waste a day.

The closure comes a few days before Rio de Janeiro is to host a major UN conference on sustainable development. The closure move was initiated on environmental grounds as toxic waste had started leaking to the sea. The closure would affect thousands of local jobs. Thousands of local people earned a living by sorting through the rubbish for recycling..

The Jardim Gramacho landfill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, gained worldwide attention two years ago when it featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Waste Land, BBC reported.

The landfill occupied 140 hectares and closure of the site was pending since 2004. The leakage of toxic material to sea was attributed to poor waste management.