The Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and the Environment, through the Regional Directorate for the Environment, has awarded the contract work for the sealing of the dump located on Corvo Island and the construction of a landfill for the disposal of inert materials to company Tecnovia Açores, Sociedade de Empreitadas S.A. The work has a base price of 400 thousand Euros.

Included in the Regional Public Works Charter, this contract work has a completion period of seven months and falls within the Waste Management Strategic Plan of the Azores. It is primarily intended to solve the environmental problems of open dumps, namely the impact on the quality of air and water, public health and landscape.

The construction of the inert landfill will provide the island of Corvo with the necessary conditions for the disposal of construction and demolition waste produced on the island, which currently lacks an appropriate final destination.

This landfill is solely intended for the deposit of non-hazardous building demolition waste that cannot be recycled or reused in other works.

The political choices made by the Government of the Azores in waste management legislation - with the construction and full operation of waste processing centres on seven of the nine islands - point out that the deposition of landfill waste is reduced to a minimum and that the current deposition sites are the subject of sealing interventions and environmental rehabilitation.

The contract works for the sealing of dumps on Graciosa and Flores are nearing completion, followed by the sealing works on Corvo.

In early 2016, the sealing of the landfill of Santa Maria begins, whose contract work has already been awarded, and the Government will move forward with the procedures for the opening of the sealing works on Faial and São Jorge.

By 2020, the Region aims to prepare, at least, 50% of municipal waste for reuse and recycling.