The fire in Zalla has been set on fire for reasons that have not yet been clarified. They must have been extinguished with soil and foam.

This is the second time in a year and a half that a fire has broken out in this landfill. There was also a fire in January 2017. The landfill has caused many problems since it was opened; for several years the Zabalgarbi incinerator’s corrals have been piled up there.

The private Zalla landfill was opened in 2005 after the then Zalla City Council, in charge of the PNV, granted the CESPA company a permit for up to 2023 years. Although it was originally designed to accumulate inert and “non-hazardous” waste, the project has undergone several changes since then and polluting waste has also been disposed of from other parts of Bizkaia, totaling more than 4 million tons.

Between 2009 and 2012, 208,000 tons of waste from the Zabalgarbi incinerator were dumped in landfills in Igorre and Zalla, as approved by the Basque Government in 2014.

As a result of the pollution generated by La Lagunas, the risk of methane explosion and other problems, the population has been mobilized frequently. In May 2016, the neighborhoods of Soiano and Uribarri began collecting signatures to request a solution for gas spills and bad smells from CESPA and organizations.

The Zalla Bai platform is currently in charge of the City Council and has an agreement with CESPA to close and recover part of the landfill, such as the construction of a treatment plant for leachates, among others.

Below are several images.