“Apart from closing down the landfill, we are calling for the cleaning up of the land”, said Isabel Pires, one of the neighbors organized in the group “Bower without Garbage”. Pires has lived in this densly populated town in Santa Maria Department for ten years.

96% of the waste that goes into Bouwer comes from the capital of the province, 18 kilometers north. The remaining 2,500 tons of waste come from other 17 towns.

The debate on the final destination of the garbage was a learning experience for the neighbors, who have started recycling and composting.

Other residents are organizing to avoid open-air waste dumps, they ask for the
presence of Bouwer residents to “tell what is going on”, said Pires.
The smell coming from toxic gases began to be felt four years ago, when there was a large accumulation of waste in the waste dump, installed there 27 years before. Pires listed the health impacts: “breathing problems, malformations in animals, tears, sore throat”.

Pires said waste “accumulates, it comes all at once, it is inhuman, because now it’s raining and if it was windy where the waste dump is, people cannot breath”.
The neighbors announced they will keep a countdown until April 1st, with two roadside signs. During the mobilization it could be read: “No more waste allowed in 100 days”. They also handed out flyers to remind the deadline to close down the waste dump to the drivers going in both directions”.