This facility will ensure the maximum use and recovery of municipal waste
The Departament of Environment and Housing, through the Catalan Waste Agency, has invested 80.7 milion Euros to build this infrastructure
The Catalan minister (conseller) of Environment and Housing, Francesc Baltasar, and the chairman of the Consorci per al Tractament de Residus Sòlids Urbans del Maresme, Joan Antoni Baron, visited on Monday, 12 April, the construction works, now in their final stage of the Centre Integral de Valorització de Residus del Maresme, in Mataró. The Catalan government delegate for Barcelona, Carme San Miguel, the director of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya (ARC), Genoveva Català, and the vicepresident of the Consorci, Joan Baliarda, as well as other representatives of the Consorci and the ARC, were with them.
The construction of the Centre Integral de Valorització de Residus del Maresme is an important step of the Departament of Environment and Housing towards the objective of the recovery and reutilization of waste. The infrastructure represents an investment of 80.7 milion Euros by the ARC, the promoting organization, together with the Consorci per al Tractament de Residus Sòlids Urbans del Maresme. The construction works are well ahead and it is planned to start the test operation of the Centre, before actual operation starts, this summer.
The infrastructure will take up almost 30,000 square metres and will create 35 direct jobs in addition to the existing staff. Now, the construction of the mixed waste fraction (waste that cannot be collected separately, but which still contain recoverable materials) treatment plant is being completed, and it will have the capacity to treat 190,000 tons/year. The recovery of materials will reach around 50% of the total. The treatment of the mixed waste fraction is characteristic of the Catalan model of urban waste management, and its aim is to recover as much usable material as possible before sending waste to the landfill or the Waste-to-Energy plant. This way, some materials go back to the production cycle, and this means savings in resources and energy. The waste arriving at the MBT plant will go through a mechanic treatment to separate and classify the recoverable materials (paper, metal, plastic, glass, etc.) and stabilize the organic matter. The resulting waste will be destined to energy recovery in the plant next door.
The facility includes a line of bulky waste (sofas, furniture, etc.) treatment, with capacity to treat 6,000 tons/year, and several stations of transfer for the fractions collected separately (organic matter, glass, packaging, and paper and cardboard) around the district, with capacity to transfer 49,000 tons/year. The organic matter will be sent to the composting and biomethanization plant in Vallès Oriental, where it will be treated to obtain compost and electric power. The remaining fractions will go to the relevant waste recuperators to go through a recycling process.
The Centre de Valorització de Residus is framed within the actions programmed on the Catalan Pla territorial sectorial d’infraestructures de gestió de residus municipals (Land sectorial plan of infrastructures for the management of municipal waste). This document sets, for the first time in our country, the racionalization of the planning of waste management facilities in the region. The objective is to achieve regional self-sufficiency, thus reducing transport of waste and reorganizing the existing waste fluxes.
In 2008, in the Maresme district, 37.1% of the urban waste was collected separately, a percentage high above the mean percentage for Catalunya, 34.4%. This ratios are well above the percentage in the rest of Spain, 17%, and in the OECD countries, 30%. Since citizens are increasingly more aware and active regarding the separate collection of waste, the Administrations have to offer installations like the Centre Integral de Valorització de Residus del Maresme to achieve the best possible use and recovery of waste.
News published on 12 April 2010
