📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Environment (MA) and the Municipality of Cerro Largo signed an agreement aimed at closing open-air landfills in the department. In this way, Cerro Largo joins the Program of Support to Municipalities promoted by the MA, to improve the management of household waste.
The agreement, which was signed by the Minister of the Environment, Robert Bouvier, and the Mayor of Cerro Largo, José Yurramendi, incorporates this department into the Program, which already includes 15 municipalities. Within this framework, negotiations continue to integrate the departmental governments of Artigas, Salto and Treinta y Tres.
During the signing of the agreement, Bouvier highlighted that, for the execution of the closure of the landfills, the MA provides funds within the framework of one of the central objectives of the portfolio: “to support these transformations, the central government allocates US$ 17 million to the municipalities, in order to minimize an endemic problem in our country.”
“This is a relevant initiative at a national level, but also fundamental in the different departments,” said the Minister. “The world demands it and we are committed to ensuring an adequate final destination for waste. We must show the public that we are managing waste correctly, adding value to it and taking into account that it has a very important social component for those who work informally with waste.”
For the Mayor of Cerro Largo, the signing of the agreement is “a very important milestone for the department since landfills are the main environmental problems we have.” He also highlighted the contribution of the central government through this initiative “both in economic support and technical monitoring by the Ministry of the Environment, which allows us to begin the process of solving this problem today.”
The agreement establishes the closure of the two largest landfills in the department: La Pedrera (Melo) and Rio Branco. It also defines the installation of transfer stations in Rio Branco and Fraile Muerto, to achieve the centralization of the final disposal of waste.
The installation of a sanitary landfill that will provide final disposal services for all of Cerro Largo has been agreed. This component involves the selection of the site, its design, bidding, construction and commissioning.
The agreements are part of the actions defined in the National Waste Management Plan (PNGR) that sets the path for the coming years. It is a strategic planning tool that aims to be the driving force behind waste transformations to achieve sustainable development.
The plan has 10 axes that structure it and addresses all types of waste included in Law No. 19,829 and includes the environmental, social and economic dimensions. In addition, it establishes monitoring and governance mechanisms. It strongly promotes the reduction of waste generation and positions it as a resource, betting on the development of national capacities so that the final disposal of waste is not the basis of management.
These agreements involve the environmental adaptation of final disposal sites and the strengthening of operational and planning capacities in each department to advance a comprehensive strategy based on a circular economy model.
