Some leaders have repeated in the last decade that the incinerators would end the “era of landfill”, which is called the “area of maturation of the escorts” to that located next to the Zubieta plant, but Iñaki Arriola has turned this speech upside down when explaining in the Basque Parliament the collapse of Zaldibar: "We need and we'll have landfills."

While lectures on recycling have been given to the public, 3.5 million tonnes of industrial waste have been generated in the CAPV each year without looking for another sustainable model, although it almost triples the amount of urban waste. "We have a big problem with industrial waste," added the Basque Government Environmental Minister, Idoia Mendia. But he has not explained how and why we have come here.

The case of Zaldibar has highlighted the interests of the current privatized model and the lack of prevention of public institutions. Each year half a million tonnes of material were taken to this site – about 20% of the “inert” waste from Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa – and Verter Recycling served over 700 customers, of which 200 were large empresas.Todos these trucks have drifted: “Right now we have a kind of funnel,” said the Deputy Environmental Minister of the Basque Government, Elena Moreno.

The problem may even reach what is said to be at the heart of our economy and are seeking a “solution” so that some industries do not have to “stop” production. The Basque Government has met these days with the Euskadi foundry, metallurgy and paper employers, as well as representatives of other landfill sites. They consider that many of these wastes, both industrial and dangerous, will have to be “exported”.

The emergence of waste generated by this mismanagement will also affect Gipuzkoa. The Lurpe landfill in Mutiloa will be closed in a few days and it has taken this decision at full speed, a few days after the Zaldibar collapse, in the face of suspicions of lack of control of the waste. The Member of Gipuzkoa has announced that he will meet with the communities and companies to discuss what to do.

The impact of Zaldibar’s collapse is spreading to more and more areas, showing that uncontrolled landfills were at the basis of a management model that has generated a human, health, ecological, economic and political crisis.