It is Verter Recycling who builds and manages the Zaldibar landfill. In 2004 the Department of the Environment presented the report for the implementation of the project.

The Department of the Environment, after obtaining the necessary information and carrying out the corresponding procedures, granted the Integrated Environmental Authorisation dated 22 January 2007.

According to the law, in high-risk infrastructures, the inspection of access to them must be carried out every year and in infrastructures classified as lower-risk every three years.

Since its opening, the Environment Department has to date carried out 7 inspections at the landfill site built and managed in Verter: Visits related to industrial emissions took place during 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019, and a control plan was carried out in 2014 and 2016.

But let's go year after year.

Works

In December 2008, Verter presented to the Basque Government the documentation to be submitted prior to the construction works of the landfill: preconventional maintenance manual, environmental biylation programs and designations of who will be the construction director, who will be responsible for the waterproofing of the landfill and who will be responsible for the landfill.

Arriola has not made all these names known.

During the execution of the works, Verter sent the Basque Government information on the monitoring and control of these works. These include:

- On 26 June 2009, some modifications to the initial project: change in the morphology of the containment wall and incorporation of some details that were not included in the initial report, such as the vials. The information provided by Arriola relates to the news spread this week that the company Geyser completely modified the initial project carried out by the cooperative LKS (here the news).

- On 24 February 2010, it announced the possibility of channelling the leachate into a collecting pipe and that the raft to receive it had two needs (the initial project envisaged two).

On 1 July 2010 it requested an amendment to the authorisation for the discharge of leachate to the collector of Gipuzkoako Urak-Aguas de Gipuzkoa, instead of the Beko regatta, before its purification.

On November 17, 2010, Verter sent the notice of completion of the construction works of the building.

On 25 January 2011, the Environment Department carried out an inspection visit prior to the opening of the landfill. The amended Integrated Environmental Authorisation (AAI) was made public on 24 March of the same year.

Authorisation of new waste and landfill recycling

During the following two years, Verter made a number of requests for the transformation of the IBB, in order to add more types of waste authorised in the landfill.

In the same period, it requested authorisation for the recycling and recovery of metals and compounds in landfill.

On 4 September 2013, the new IBB was published, which amended the 2007 IBB. This catalogued the two previous requests of the company as a "small" modification, i.e. the extension of the authorisation for the management of certain waste and the possibility of collecting more different waste.

Integrated Environmental Authorisation 2013 and Authorization Garbigune 2016

In 2016, Verter asked for a "small" change in the permission to install a Garbigune. A number of non-hazardous waste would be stored at the Garbigune before recovery. Authorisation was granted on 3 November.

Inspection detects incidents in gas emissions

Arriola gives a very limited and general explanation of the outcome of these audits. These include:

The 2014 audit assesses the medium high compliance with the conditions imposed by the audit and the next three-year audit, which will take place in 2017.

According to the 2014 audit, Verter "runner-up"

In 2014, the Environment Department carried out a 100% inspection of the waste entering the CAPV landfills, thus demonstrating the permeability of the waste (not generating leachate). They inspected 15 landfills and Verter was named runner-up.

What the 2016 audit detected

The 2016 audit was linked to management. It found that the waste management carried out by Verter in the nursery did not have an environmental impact assessment and was asked to do so and the company did so later.

Verter presented the report of the environmental monitoring programmes 2017, 2018 and 2019

This report contains the endorsements of the previous year and, therefore, the reports of 2016, 2017 and 2018 are the most recent.

The Metans Problem in 2017

A medium-high level of compliance and a two-year inspection are also indicated in 2017. Some fireplaces indicate that methane concentration is high and the company is asked to set up a "gas treatment system". In response, Verter says that, according to company expert Afvalzorg, "the presence of nitrogen indicates that air enters a lot and that active gas management would mean introducing more air into the landfill, which would be harmful".