They denounce that the Zumalakarrangi cremation furnace in Bilbao has had over six polluting discharges in the last year
- It is not the first time that the Uribarri Neighbourhood Association has denounced the polluting discharges from the incineration furnace of Zumalakarrangi Street. Since the opening of the oven was authorised, these emissions have caused a series of clashes between neighbours, the City Hall and the company, which have begun to shut down the oven.
The City Council of Bilbao approved in 2005 the municipal ordinance regulating the location of incineration furnaces more than 500 meters from the dwellings. Funeraria Bilbaina, for his part, applied for a licence to open the oven two years before the approval of the ordinance (in March 2003), so the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country authorized its construction to end 4 years of struggle between the City Council of Bilbao, neighbors and the company.
Funeraria Bilbaina is the only crematorium oven located in Bilbao. Located on the plaza del gas, on number 10 of Zumalakarrangi Street and since it opened, there have been numerous concentrations of the neighbors against it, claiming that its discharges are “pollutants for health and the environment” and that it is located in the center of a city of 25,000 inhabitants. The company, for its part, explained at the time that it would have specific technical systems to minimise these toxic particles that can be formed. The Basque Government also took over control of these technical systems.
But for Carlos, a member of the Uribarri Neighborhood Association, he doesn't. Since the beginning of 2020, for example, six one-hour pollutant emissions have been recorded. Carlos says the emissions are “very black and very strong” and that, although it lasts only an hour, “its impact on the environment and society is serious”.
Every time black smoke is extracted from the furnace fireplace, the Association of Neighbours takes a picture of the spill and sends it immediately to the mobility and sustainability area of the City Council of Bilbao to denounce it and demand responsibility. Since the beginning of 2020, they have had to repeat the same process six times and all have received the same response to “transfer the problem to the Basque Government”.
When the Zumalacárregui oven was opened, the Basque Government announced that every six months it would carry out quality control of the system and the technical facilities. According to Carlos, the neighborhood association Cincta Etxea has been asking for reports of these studies for some time, but they have not been given. “Doing a six-monthly analysis of this system is expensive and we are not doing it.”
“Sometimes during the night we have seen spills, it is common that occasionally there is a problem in the system or in the facilities, so it is more important to do maintenance. Why don’t they send the test reports?” is the only thing we ask.
The Association of Neighbours of Uribarri requests that maintenance be carried out in the crematorium furnace in the centre of Bilbao and, at the same time, that the Basque Government carry out checks on the system every six months so that these polluting gases disappear.
Renewed licence
In 2013 Eh Bildu submitted a motion for the Basque Government not to renew the administrative authorisation of the Zumalakarrangi crematorium, and the City of Bilbao suspended the activity licence for the furnace. In the motion, Aitzibeer Ibaibarriaga, then councillor of EH Bildu, referred to the results of a scientific research conducted by a group of researchers of the Carlos III Health Institute. According to the journal Environment International, people living near an incineration furnace have a higher risk of cancer. The study was carried out between 1997 and 2006 and analyzed different types of incinerators.
Zero Waste Europe-k (ZWE) Espainia, Txekia eta Lituaniako hiru erraustegiri buruz argitaratu duen ikerketa berri batek egiaztatu du instalazio horien inguruetan kutsadura maila handia dagoela, eta hori arriskutsua litzateke ingurumenerako eta gertu bizi diren pertsonen... [+]
Zumarragan 2023 amaierarako eraiki nahi duten plastikoak tratatzeko plantan pirolisia erabiliko da olioa lortzeko (takoil), eta olio hori plastiko berria eta erregaiak egiteko erabiliko da. "Hondakin solidoak errez erregaia sortzen du, eta Europar Batasunaren beraren... [+]
Bergarako Udalaren webgunean irakur daiteke albistea izenburu honekin: 200 langileko kooperatiba batek Bergaratik joatea erabaki du Valogreene-k bertan ezarri nahi duelako hondakinen planta. "Paper-industriaren hondakinen tratamendurako planta Bergaran ezarri aurretik,... [+]
