Recivalongo assures that landfill in Sobrado will have renewed license

A Recivalongo revealed today that the Landfill Survey Auto in Valongo proves that it fulfills the Single Environmental Title (TUA), there are only a few issues that need to be improved for the license to be renewed on December 1.

In a written reply to questions submitted by Lusa on November 4, after the Minister of Environment admitted the intention to close the landfill, the company states that the Government’s decision “cannot be distinguished from the Review Survey Report” made to the premises, which are contested by the population of Sobrado and the City Council.

According to the company, the report concluded that “during the survey, it was found that the establishment complies with the project licensed by the TUA, meeting the general conditions defined, as well as with the legal and regulatory conditions”.

Still, it continues, “some issues have been identified that need to be improved”, so “the conditions for issuing the final favourable decision conditional on compliance with certain conditions are considered to be met”.

It adds to Recivalongo that the “conditions to be met are the result of observations on the day and time of inspection, such as cleaning half-cane rainwaters, reconfigure temporary land barriers within the landfill to prevent the mixing of any leached waters with rainwaters and repair of lintels next to the hydrocarbon separator”.

“ These are specific situations that do not constitute any serious non-compliance, but rather due to exploitation”, reads in the text sent to Lusa, indicating that the company was still requested by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the entity to which the inspection is to be carried out, a “limigation plan for leachate production and a plan for the mitigation of odors”.

The landfill in Sobrado has been contested since 2019 by the population and the municipality, which accuse the management of the company of landfills of “environmental crime”, causing “a nauseous smell” in the air and, through the “slip of leachates, pollute the water and land of the parish” of the municipality of Valongo.

On the same date, on November 4, when the Free released the answer to the questions addressed to the Government, the Minister of the Environment, Maria da Graça Carvalho, did not give way to the closure on December 1 of the landfill of Recivalongo, making it depend on the corrections to be made by the company within 60 working days.

“ If there is a supervised installation it is Recivalongo, not for its non-compliances, but for the political use that it is possible to make with a type of infrastructure,” the company pointed out, which attributed the challenge to the “NIMBY effect [the opposition of residents to projects, buildings or infrastructures planned for their own neighborhood, despite recognizing that these projects may be useful or necessary for society in general].