The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism stated on São Jorge Island that six of the archipelago of the Azores will be without landfills and dumps after the completion of the sealing of Velas and Calheta landfills, scheduled for the first half of 2018.
 
Marta Guerreiro spoke during the statutory visit to São Jorge Island after a visit to the sealing works of Velas landfill, which is taking place in conjunction with the ongoing works on the island of Faial.
 
The public tender intends to seal and redevelop the two dumps located on the island of São Jorge, through the implementation of environmental protection and monitoring systems. The works have a budget of 1.3 million Euros and a completion period of 210 days.
 
Marta Guerreiro stressed that the cycle of interventions about to be concluded "reflects the Regional Government's strong investment in this matter." This is evidenced in the sealing works as well as in the environmental and landscape redevelopment of landfills and dumps on six islands, which "demanded from the Region a significant investment of six million Euros. The interventions also included the construction of Waste Processing Centres on seven islands, an overall investment of 38 million Euros."
 
The Secretary for the Environment stated that, until recently, there were several landfills and dumps scattered all over the islands, highlighting "the paradigm shift that allows us to comply with all the rules in force regarding this matter, namely European legislation."
 
The government official noted that the results are already clear as a result the Government's intense investment. She added that, "with the exception of São Miguel Island, the largest of the archipelago, the remaining eight islands only sent about 22% of their urban waste in 2016."
 
In addition, last year, seven of the nine islands promoted "the recovery of waste in the order of 50%. These goals make us very proud and are precisely the reflection of the policy that has been pursued in the Region," said Marta Guerreiro.
 
The Regional Secretary also mentioned the example Flores Island, which the full recovery rate (100%), and the fact that the "zero landfill goal" on six islands will soon be reached. Currently, the disposal of urban waste in controlled landfills only takes place on the islands of Pico, Terceira and São Miguel.