The situation was reported by the executive administrator for the Technical Area of ANR, Maria da Purificação, expressing concern about the "smuggling of waste that persists" in the neighboring provinces of Cabinda, Cunene, Moxico and Cuando Cubango.
"We have received information that there is smuggling of waste by well-organized people who are not waste operators, have not filed any process with the ANR and are smuggling waste across borders," she said.
According to the leader, the "worrisome" situation of smuggling of waste led the agency's board to conduct a training action, in collaboration with the National Police, "because it is also a matter of great concern at the international level.
For Maria da Purificação, the issue of smuggling should also be taken care of from the waste that leaves the ports, because, she explained, the ANR has to be present when the containers are inspected, which does not happen.
"There are times when ANR is called at the last minute, the inspection is already done and it is difficult for ANR to guarantee what is really inside the container, what is passing through the container in the form of waste," he noted.
"This is a major concern of Interpol and I believe that the National Police has been interacting with Interpol, because Interpol is able to identify the operation mechanisms of the smugglers," she emphasized.
Without quantifying, the official noted that the smuggling of waste represents "huge losses for the country", exemplifying the consequences of the vandalization of cabins and electric cables at a national level for the extraction of copper.
"So when containers appear with tons of copper ingots (bars) we have to wonder about the origin of this material," she noted.
The administrator, who was speaking at the end of the launch of the "Recycling Month Awareness Campaign," said that ANR has licensed 277 waste operators, but less than 20 are licensed to export waste.
Regarding waste recovery, Angola has been recovering and exporting waste since 2018, in light of Presidential Decree 265/18, of November 15, with axes for plastic, glass and paper recovery.
Luanda has recorded since late 2020 huge piles of garbage, which continue to gain worrying proportions despite several ongoing waste collection campaigns with the involvement of companies and society actors.
Questioned by Lusa about waste recovery as opposed to the enormous piles of garbage that persist, especially in Luanda, Maria da Purificação pointed to the "lack of knowledge and awareness of a large part of the citizens" on the subject.
"[The] problem we have now of waste in large quantities and recyclables, which should not even stop at the normal collection network that goes to Mulenvos (Luanda Landfill), is awareness, knowledge," she considered.
The responsible sustained that "much of the population is still unaware that that waste is a valuable raw material.
"So we need to revitalize transfer centers that were built in the past and the municipal administrations to create other transfer centers, I believe that this is a viable mechanism to solve the problem in a faster way", she advocated.
At least 63 companies are already operating in the waste valorization process in Luanda, he revealed.
Training and social integration of waste pickers in the country are also "concerns" of ANR, a situation that led the Angolan regulator of the sector to propose a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute for Employment and Professional Training (Inefop).
The catadores "are looked upon as a marginalized group, who nevertheless play a key role for the economy," he pointed out.
"So under the memorandum between ANR and Inefop one of the exercises is to register the catadores and encourage those catadores who are still doing the work on their own to join in cooperatives," he stressed.
The president of ANR's board of directors, Neusa Caetano, said at the opening of the meeting that the "Recycling Month Awareness Campaign" starts this month and runs until July.
"Where do the residues that we all produce go" is the slogan of the campaign that will also focus on actions aimed at the reuse of domestic waste, presentation of various solutions, the problem of marine litter and others.
