In the heart of Argentina’s Patagonian tourist area, San Carlos de Bariloche faces an environmental paradox: it has the worst landfill in Argentina.
Its municipal landfill was included by the International Solid Waste Association among the 50 most polluting landfills on the planet, being the only one in the country on this list.
The city, which receives more than a million tourists a year, has been grappling with this problem for more than four decades.
The Bariloche landfill: a decades-old problem without a solution
This landfill in Bariloche has been operating for more than 40 years without adequate treatment or control measures.
“The landfill represents an open wound that has been bleeding for more than 40 years,” said Iván Espeche Gil, spokesperson for the Fundación Impacta.
And he warned: “It is a time bomb that each new administration has inherited for decades.”
The site receives 200 tons of waste daily and accumulates more than 500,000 tons in total.
Only 5% of the generated waste is recycled, which multiplies the contamination of air, soil, and groundwater.
Environmental engineer Ignacio Sagardoy explained that in 2014 the old Bariloche landfill was closed and a cell for controlled waste was inaugurated.
However, a fire damaged the protective membrane. Moreover, the leachate treatment plant never became operational.
The environmental and health consequences of the Bariloche landfill
“The landfill is located in a watershed divide. It is a 24/7 factory of toxic leachates that seep into the groundwater,” warned Espeche Gil.
Thus, the absence of an impermeable barrier at the landfill allows these liquids to contaminate the soil and groundwater of Bariloche, posing a direct risk to lakes Gutiérrez and Nahuel Huapi.
A survey among residents and doctors revealed that 91% of respondents believe the landfill affects their health, reporting respiratory, dermatological, and psychological symptoms.
The seagulls feeding at the landfill spread the contamination to other bodies of water.
Uncontrolled burning worsens the situation: “We are very concerned about what might happen next summer, after a very dry winter,” warned the Impacta spokesperson.
And he added: “A few weeks ago the landfill was on fire for three days and they couldn’t put it out.”
Unfulfilled legislation and rising costs
Provincial Law 5491, enacted in 2020, ordered the closure of all open-air landfills within three years.
In line with this, in December 2022, the local City Council set the definitive closure of the Bariloche landfill for December 4, 2023, but the deadline was not met.
The current mayor, Walter Cortés, acknowledged that “waste is a problem” and expressed his support for relocating the site, although he emphasized the high costs of the operation.
On average, 30% of municipal revenue is allocated to waste collection and treatment.
“It’s a third of the budget. Fortunes are spent on enlarging a problem instead of being used intelligently to solve it,” pointed out Espeche Gil.
For this reason, the Fundación Impacta chose Bariloche as the epicenter of its first major environmental program.
Through the Sustainable Cities Meeting, it called for 80 waste management proposals to be presented at the “Patagonia without Waste” event.
The Ombudswoman of Bariloche, Mariana Minuth, activated a resolution to get involved in monitoring the case.
“We consider it absolutely necessary for the competent authorities to urgently undertake the comprehensive approach to this situation,” she stated.
Espeche Gil emphasized that “this represents, paradoxically, a huge opportunity to become a world example of sustainability“.
In a country with more than 5,000 open-air landfills, Bariloche faces the challenge of becoming a benchmark for responsible environmental management.
