According to Goiena, a large group of neighbours met on Monday in Bergara to discuss the future incineration plant in the industrial estate of Larramendi. The company Paper BC SM of Valogree has put on the table its arguments in favour of and against the waste gasification project of paper mills, which in recent weeks has generated serious doubts about the construction of the incinerator. A massive concentration of protest took place after the project was known and, together with the Bergara City Hall, many neighbours have presented their allegations to the project.

Environmentalists in Action have previously denounced that the process they call pyrolysis is actually incineration. Carlos Arribas, responsible for the waste area of Ekologistak Martxan, explained the following: “From a legal point of view, pyrolysis is incineration if the products you get in pyrolysis are burned, as in this case,” Goiena explained. From the outset, he accused those responsible for the company Greene (the root of the Valogree Papers) of “lying” and trying to “disguise” the activity that the plant would have, hiding information from the citizens and the city council. According to the ecologist group, besides noise and odor, it would also generate pollution and toxic gases: dioxins, furans and heavy metals.

On the contrary, those responsible for the company Greene, Juan José Hernández and Enrique Aráñez have given the most unfavourable explanations of the case. At the plant they intend to build in Bergara, they have ensured that they would treat the waste “sustainably”, and that it would be “a valued material”. They argue that the process complies with all the requirements of the law. They say pyrolysis is not incineration. “Technically, incineration is the oxidation of a material. Pyrolysis is a transformation that is made without oxygen and with temperature, in which gas and coal are obtained, and that can be valued.”

According to Urko Apaolaza at ARGIA, Ekologistak Martxan, Zero Wast, Global Alliance against Gaia and Greenpeace say the same thing: the pyrolytic system is so similar to incineration that it could call incineration.

The attendees of the round table have come out with more doubts and more concern; they have asked for more debate and more time. Many citizens have not convinced those responsible for Green and have asked them to give them the data they have been told. Businessmen have reported that everyone who wishes will be able to know the project firsthand and improvements can be implemented “if necessary”.

Revocation of municipal authorization

Last July the Bergara City Council approved the urban compatibility of the project and were awaiting approval of the environmental compatibility. However, at the beginning of November, the City Council revoked the authorization, on the understanding that the activity initially submitted by the company did not comply with what was subsequently indicated. According to Goiena, last Monday the City Council presented to the Basque Government allegations, among other reasons because there are homes next to the polygon in which it is intended to build, as the incineration plant is not environmentally acceptable. The last word about the project is not the City Hall, but the Government.