One of the biggest problem for humans for a long time now has been waste disposal. And with the development of urban areas and cities, the number of trash seems to have been growing, producing a need to have a dump area, and this has actually created an unhealthy environment which, believe it or not, some humans have found a way to adapt to and make a living out of the trash in these dump sites.

In Rio de Janeiro, the name Jardim Gramacho is quite famous as it is the dump site for the city’s trash for many years now. This is actually the biggest dump site for trash, and for the record, at its peak, more than 900 dump trucks a day would come and dispose of the city’s trash in here. The poor people have actually made this as a source of their living by getting trash that are recyclable and sells it to the junk shops around the city.

These people are known as catadores, and for a long time now, they have actually provided the only way to lessen the trash in this area, but is a very unhealthy one of course as trash spells disease, health problems, and many more unwanted things for the human body. Why? Not only because it is unclean, but it decomposing trash happens to produce dangerous materials like carbon monoxide and methane which are not suitable for the body.

In order to address this, the government has now decided to close down this Jardim dump site. But of course, closing it is not the only thing the government will do, but it will actually put up a facility in this site that will harness the greenhouse gases produced by the rotting garbage. This will in turn provide a source for energy for Rio too, and help the environment in the long run. This is actually good news as the garbage in this area is responsible for polluting the nearby Guanabara bay, and of course, the dump site itself is a very bad place for human to be working in.

One of Rio’s goals is to actually also clean up the city in preparation for the upcoming soccer world cup, and also it will be hosting the Olympics in a few years, and this is part of the preparation too.

But one big problem they will have to face is the loss of work for the catadores, which number to the great thousands over the years. These are the poor who cannot find work in the city, and this is what the government needs to be addressing soon for the closing of the dump There are already plans in place for these catadores, but of course it will take a long time for them to really find a good source of livelihood so that they can still survive even if the dump site is now closed. But once this addressed, then hopefully things will really be for the best here in Rio De Janeiro.