The City Council Approves Two Projects to Improve Machinery at the Waste Treatment Center

The Local Government Board of Alicante City Council approved on Tuesday two projects for the improvement of the machinery at the Alicante Waste Treatment Center (CETRA). These include the updating of the project for the installation of a fine-tuning line for bio-stabilized material from the grey container to make compost and the purchase of a new optical separator for plastic containers.

The aim of both projects is to increase material recovery and reduce waste deposited in landfills, according to a statement from the Alicante council.

Deputy Mayor and Councillor for the Environment, Manuel Villar, highlighted that investments have been made over recent years to renew CETRA's machinery with the purchase of new equipment and the renovation of screening and waste treatment lines, with an investment exceeding two million euros. These will be supplemented by these three projects and others planned in the medium term.

"The Department of Street Cleaning and Waste Management has enabled, through improvements in facilities and treatment processes between 2019 and 2023, to reduce waste rejection sent to landfill from 72% to 46%. This data reflects the effort being made, adhering to European, national, and regional regulations on material recovery, advancing towards implementing a circular economy model that facilitates reuse and minimizes landfill rejection," Villar emphasized.

The government board's agreement this Tuesday authorizes updating the preliminary project for improving the fine-tuning installation of bio-stabilized material from residual fraction to enhance material recovery. This project is valued at 2,691,862.80 euros, funded by the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan and the Support Plan for Implementing Waste Regulations in the Valencian Community.

The Socialist municipal group in the City Council, through Councillor Raúl Ruiz, questioned the agreement adopted for improving CETRA's machinery. He considered it a "last-minute improvisation" and accused Alicante Mayor Luis Barcala of "condemning Alicante to lose nearly half a million euros in Next Generation funds by carrying it out outside the project presented to Brussels for organic waste treatment." The Socialist councillor called the agreement an "occurrence" in a statement, indicating that it was made "knowing that the European Commission has an open investigation into the City Council for its negligent waste management."

"It is an adjustment in the economic valuation of a project already funded by European funds, revised and incorporating recent technical adjustments for its execution, raising its valuation from 1.7 to 2.6 million euros," Villar clarified.

Additionally, they accepted the classification of bids for supplying an optical separator for polypropylene containers for Alicante's waste treatment plant and its installation. The proposal submitted by Tamesur S.A. was the only one presented, with an offer of 198,825.69 euros.

"The purpose of this new machine that separates containers from other waste is not only to replace the current one as it has reached its end-of-life but also to increase operability and waste valorization figures, minimize landfill deposits, and promote circular economy and reuse," detailed the Deputy Mayor.