(DEMOCRATS DID THIS! If Kamala and Biden were smarter, they wouldn't bring up the garbage crisis in Puerto Rico since the Democrat administration caused it.)
Trash Crisis Leaves Puerto Rico Near ‘the Brink’
Most of Puerto Rico’s landfills fail to meet federal standards and are almost full. Residents and experts worry that trash will soon overwhelm the region.
Because Puerto Rico is a cluster of islands, the trash has nowhere to go, says Carl Soderberg, executive director of the Puerto Rico chapter of the Inter-American Association of Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Sciences.
“We’re one step away from the brink,” he says.
Twenty-nine landfills are spread throughout the region. Eighteen do not meet federal standards because, among other violations, they function as “open dumps.”
The landfills are already so full that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency predicts that they will outstrip their capacity by 2023.
SOURCE: Report Card for Puerto Rico’s Infrastructure 2019; American Society of Civil Engineers
Puerto Rico recycles only 9% to 14% of its trash, although at least 35% of its solid waste is recyclable. In 2017, the trash crisis worsened when hurricanes Maria and Irma left at least 2.5 million tons of debris.
The landfill that bedevils Contorno residents opened in 1966. Two potable water wells and 14 subterranean water wells lie within 2 miles of the landfill. They feed into the Río de la Plata valley, an important potable water aquifer.
The dump sits on 31 acres, and it became such a menace that Contorno residents formed Toalteños por el ambiente (Toa Alta Residents for the Environment) to oppose it. They wrote the municipal legislature and the Environmental Quality Board (now part of Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources) to complain about the stench. They were also angry that when it rained, torrents of trash flowed from the dump.
González says that before Environmental Quality Board officials paid visits, residents always warned landfill managers. But they covered the trash with soil after leaving it in the open for weeks, a violation of EPA standards.
https://globalpressjournal.com/americas/puerto-rico/trash-crisis-leaves-puerto-rico-brink/