San José to destroy thousands of pirated CDs and DVDs

In an effort to display his continued commitment to the crackdown on the sale of pirated goods on city streets, San José Mayor Johnny Araya unveiled a pile of 35,000 pirated CDs and DVDs Wednesday.

The municipality claimed that the discs had been confiscated over the course of the past six months by the Municipal Police. The city said the goods, with an estimated value of ¢ 3 5 million (about $60,000), were seized from approximately 350 illegal vendors.

The confiscated DVDs and CDs were piled on the corner of Avenida 4 and Calle 3, near the Finance Ministry, an area known as a hotbed for sales of pirated goods.

The San José Municipality announced plans to incinerate the confiscated merchandise, ensuring that they would not be redistributed. This is the second time this year the Municipality and Municipal Police have organized a ritual demolition of pirated goods. In February, 15,000 pirated DVDs and CDs were destroyed.

According to the municipality, the discs will be incinerated by Geocycle Environmental Services and the Holcim Group in a cement furnace. Estimated to reach temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius, the environmentally-friendly furnace is said to prevent the production of secondary residues and gases almost entirely.