Need
Just 15 minutes from Panama City lies the Cerro Patacón landfill, where 2,500 tons of waste from the capital and San Miguelito are deposited daily, according to the Urban and Household Cleaning Authority (AAUD). This landfill manages more than 40% of the waste generated by the country’s 4.28 million inhabitants, according to official data.
The landfill not only concentrates a large amount of waste, but poor practices, such as intentional fires to reduce volume, cause severe environmental pollution problems. The burning materials include plastics, cardboard, wood, rubber, and even hospital supplies. These fires release toxic gases and suspended particles that affect both the natural environment and the health of nearby communities.
Six communities, totaling approximately 6,475 people, live near Cerro Patacón and are constantly at risk of exposure to these pollutants. Smoke, ash, and foul odors are dispersed for hundreds of kilometers, even covering parts of Panama City, worsening the environmental crisis.
Given this situation, there was an urgent need to implement a real-time monitoring system to assess gases and particulate matter emitted by fires and waste decomposition to mitigate impacts on air quality and detect odor episodes that affect the daily lives of these communities.