Waste management and sanitation

The West Zone Sanitation project gained momentum with the hosting of the Games. It included the installation of 10 new wastewater treatment stations, along with 2,100 kilometres of new wastewater collection systems in 21 Rio neighbourhoods inhabited by 1.7 million people.

The Seropédica Waste Treatment Centre, opened in 2011, treats 10,000 tons of waste daily. The building of this centre made it possible to close the Gramacho Landfill, an open-air waste dump on the shores of Guanabara Bay that received the largest share of the city of Rio’s waste.

Prior to the Games, reports of abnormally high levels of viruses and bacteria in the bay alarmed athletes and International Sports Federations. However, most of the problems feared around water pollution did not materialise during the Games. Although a series of actions were taken to restore the water quality of Guanabara Bay, the long-term targets announced by the Rio de Janeiro state government during the candidacy process for the Olympic Games were only partially met. Measures taken by authorities included the introduction of pipes to divert pollution from Marina da Gloria, which hosted Olympic sailing events, the expansion of waste treatment capacity around the bay, the installation of barriers in local rivers to reduce floating waste and the closing of waste dumps in the area.

Additionally, a Games-time collaboration with waste-picker cooperatives delivered several benefits, including higher income and better working conditions for waste pickers. It involved 240 waste pickers from 33 waste-collecting cooperatives. The pickers almost tripled their usual take-home pay, and a long-standing demand to be paid not just for the value of the material collected, but for the service of recycling itself, was fulfilled. During the Games, waste pickers educated the public on the importance of recycling. Rio 2016 and Coca-Cola provided training and donated equipment to the cooperatives.