Cabildo de La Palma hopes to begin execution of Los Morenos’ new transitional cell soon

Nieves Rosa Arroyo, Cabildo de La Palma’s Minister for Services and Climate Change, hopes to resolve the pending borders in the coming weeks as construction of the Los Morenos Environmental Complex’s new transitional cell begins. extend the life of the plant beyond February 2023.

Nieves Rosa Arroyo explained that the gradual return of residents in areas evacuated after the volcanic eruption last year caused a significant increase in bulky waste and accelerated the shortening of the useful life of existing cell debris.

Island Corporation has already closed the purchase of one of the plots attached to the site where the new spillway will be built, and the award is still pending, which will happen once the Canary Islands Government approves.

The consultant hopes that this authorization will take place shortly, given that the Cabildo de La Palma has approved and forwarded the declaration of emergency due to the island’s environmental responsibility and has requested its acceptance from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Combating Climate Change. More than three months of Regional Planning of the Canary Islands Government.

This is the only way to immediately confront a “critical” situation that requires action “as soon as possible”, the Palmera minister warned, and recalled that this is one of the reasons for the declaration of an environmental emergency: to prolong the life of the Los Morenos Environmental Complex.

Nieves Rosa Arroyo evaluated the recent report of the regulatory Environmental Audit of the Los Morenos Complex, which resulted in the “total” degree of compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Authorization (AAI) in Los Morenos, which guarantees the proper management of island waste. facilities.

However, knowing for years that the facility’s dumping cell has a useful life span does not hide the fact that it is involved and therefore determined to make changes in the waste management model on the island. is studied from different angles.

Los Morenos Environmental Complex is the only waste treatment plant in La Palma and its operation depends on the presence of reject cells generated in the waste treatment line. The work objective of Cabildo’s Waste Department is to minimize rejected material, reduce waste, increase recycling and recover materials to ensure complete destruction.

With the aggravating situation of the landfill tax set to begin in 2023, Arroyo says, “Either we change the model or in a few years we will have no place to store the waste, as the Environmental Complex cannot be sustained and expanded.” Insist on prevention, reduce waste generated, increase separation of all fractions of waste [que se depositan en los contenedores azul, verde y amarillo] and i try
leave organic matter at its source and compost it directly, through household or community composting, which is the only waste we can reuse, or by presenting it to authorized managers in certain collections”.

REDACTION PROJECT

With the transition cell project already prepared and the emergency notification in hand, work on the new floodplain can be started as soon as possible, “It is necessary to prolong the life of the Los Morenos Complex, which is at the limit of its capacity,” says the consultant.

The counting of the Los Morenos Complex since June of last year by the AAI has been definitively approved and allows the department led by Arroyos to apply different measures to extend the lifetime of the Complex’s single discharge cell as the transition cell work begins and is carried out. , some work that is estimated to take several months.

So the mattresses removed from the street, the rejection of the plastic film, and the rejection of the light packaging line packaged and shipped from the island, stopped being dumped in the landfill; Remains from greenhouses destroyed by the Cumbre Vieja volcano are also removed and deposited outside the landfill; In the Environmental Complex, work has been started to treat leachate caused by the treatment of domestic waste.

In order to reduce the current discharge rate, while the transition cell works are carried out, the Los Morenos Complex will be equipped with a baling press to compact the wastes and reduce their volume so that they take up less space both in the stream and in the stream. pour the cell. While the new pass cell is open, the waste will continue to be compacted at a slower rate to fill.

In addition, plastic waste is practically eliminated by compacting the waste, when waste accumulates in the cell so as not to affect the Montaña del Azufre natural monument. Likewise, the packaging makes it possible to transport it by sea to other facilities, something that is not currently available.

Under the protection of this statement, preventive measures will be implemented to increase selective collection (paper and cardboard, glass and light packaging) capacity, as well as support the La Palma Services Consortium to expand its urgently allocated collection capacity. organic matter where not yet done.

In addition to the pilot project launched for door-to-door lightweight packaging and paper and cardboard collection in Santa Cruz de La Palma, the Arroyo-led department has allocated a budget line for the Services Consortium for this purpose. It gives very good results.”