The recycling of refuse at Rafey landfill is called a failure
The city government announces a reduction of the divers in the landfill, but there are still nearly
SANTIAGO. While some sectors of this city are defining the recycling project of the refuse in the Rafey landfill as a failure, because of the precarious work conditions of the Dominican and Haitian "divers" or recyclers, the municipal authorities defend the initiative saying that this is a long term project.
Nonetheless, the advisor to the city government of Santiago, Nelson Carela, said that the recycling plant will be open soon with the objective of improving the working conditions of the divers and reducing their number, which at the present time is more than 750, with the majority being Haitians that live all crowded together in pensions.
"We can have this facility working with the support of Xunta de Galicia and the businessmen from the Chamber of Commerce and Production of Santiago," said Carela.
In the first stage, the recycling plant will be operated by 10 recyclers or divers, who will leave off working in the landfill (garbage dump), and this number will go up as the project is expanded.
The former city councilman and executive director of the commission working on the West Santiago project, Hipolito Martinez, said that the projects started by the municipal authorities for recycling the garbage have failed due to a lack of municipal planning.
"Now we have more divers and more disorganization in the process of collecting the refuse in the Rafey landfill," he explained.
At the present time the efforts to reduce the number of divers at Rafey come from organizations sponsored by national and international organizations.
Among these entities are the "Niños con una Esperanza" (Children with Hope) foundation which is led by pastor Pablo Ureña, and the "Cometas de Esperanza" (Comets of Hope) foundation, which have managed to rescue over 400 children and adolescents that lived by picking through the refuse in Rafey.
Now these entities have two schools in Cienfuegos in which they teach 150 former divers between the ages of 5 and 17. Besides the educational part, the minors also receive food and medicine.
The president of Comets of Hope, the Spaniard Oscar Faes Garcia, said that the condition for entering the school that he heads is that the parents will not allow their children to return to the landfill.
"If we find that some child among those we have here in the school is returning again to the landfill, unfortunately we return the child to the parents," he said.
On 4 August 2011, the mayor of Santiago signed a contract with the firm of Green Wheels Rene, a company from the United States, which was to recycle the refuse and install a generation plant using the solid wastes that Santiago produces, but this project is also stalled.
Nonetheless, the advisor to the city government of Santiago, Nelson Carela, said that the recycling plant will be open soon with the objective of improving the working conditions of the divers and reducing their number, which at the present time is more than 750, with the majority being Haitians that live all crowded together in pensions.
"We can have this facility working with the support of Xunta de Galicia and the businessmen from the Chamber of Commerce and Production of Santiago," said Carela.
In the first stage, the recycling plant will be operated by 10 recyclers or divers, who will leave off working in the landfill (garbage dump), and this number will go up as the project is expanded.
The former city councilman and executive director of the commission working on the West Santiago project, Hipolito Martinez, said that the projects started by the municipal authorities for recycling the garbage have failed due to a lack of municipal planning.
"Now we have more divers and more disorganization in the process of collecting the refuse in the Rafey landfill," he explained.
At the present time the efforts to reduce the number of divers at Rafey come from organizations sponsored by national and international organizations.
Among these entities are the "Niños con una Esperanza" (Children with Hope) foundation which is led by pastor Pablo Ureña, and the "Cometas de Esperanza" (Comets of Hope) foundation, which have managed to rescue over 400 children and adolescents that lived by picking through the refuse in Rafey.
Now these entities have two schools in Cienfuegos in which they teach 150 former divers between the ages of 5 and 17. Besides the educational part, the minors also receive food and medicine.
The president of Comets of Hope, the Spaniard Oscar Faes Garcia, said that the condition for entering the school that he heads is that the parents will not allow their children to return to the landfill.
"If we find that some child among those we have here in the school is returning again to the landfill, unfortunately we return the child to the parents," he said.
On 4 August 2011, the mayor of Santiago signed a contract with the firm of Green Wheels Rene, a company from the United States, which was to recycle the refuse and install a generation plant using the solid wastes that Santiago produces, but this project is also stalled.