Eco-briefs
VENEZUELA: Protests Against Landfill

CARACAS, Feb 1 (Tierramérica).- Mayor Rosiris Orozco and residents of La Concepción, a municipality near Maracaibo, 500 km west of Caracas, have asked Venezuela's Environment Ministry to shut down La Ciénaga sanitary landfill, which receives 100 trucks filled with garbage each day.

"The work to fit out the landfill with new pits has been delayed, and the smoke from frequent fires there affects thousands of nearby residents," Orozco told Tierramérica.

It is also unhealthy for the hundreds of people who enter the 56-hectare site each day to look for materials that they can try to sell.

The environmental group Vitalis, which is conducting its annual survey among experts about Venezuela's environmental situation, has pointed out the management and disposal of solid waste as a leading problem.