GuraSOS: "Zaldibar comes to Zubieta"
- Until the disaster, many of the industrial waste was destined for the Zaldibar landfill. This waste will be burned at the Zubieta incinerator. GuraSOS has appealed against the authorization of the Economic Development Minister of the Basque Government, Arantxa Tapia.
"The GHK is an administrative organisation exclusively trained for the management of urban waste and has no competence for the management of other types of waste". GuraSOS considers that the Zubieta incinerator is not an appropriate infrastructure for the treatment of industrial waste. "Municipal waste is household waste and waste from other sources, such as retail, administration, the education sector, health services, housing and food services, as well as other services and activities similar to household waste by nature and composition".
GuraSOS’s letter refers to Directive 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In his opinion, "waste from production, agriculture, forestry, fishing, construction and demolition, septic tanks, sewage and treatment plants, as well as end-of-life vehicles, are excluded".
Amendment of the Integrated Environmental Authorisation
In order to be able to incinerate industrial waste in Zubieta, they want to adapt to the Integrated Environmental Authorisation (AAI), for which the approval of the Basque Government is needed. This change is not barbaric for GuraSOS. In its appeal, it states that "the modification shall be considered substantial when there is a transformation or increase in discharges, the introduction of new contaminants in significant quantities, the introduction of dangerous substances or preparations into the process, or the increase in the generation of hazardous waste".
More plastics will increase polluting emissions
According to a recent report by the European advisory agency Eunomia, incineration and waste emissions have a direct effect on the proliferation of greenhouse gases and on air quality. According to GuraSOS, "this report shows that in waste coming to incinerators the proportion of plastic is increasing and that the carbon impact of these plants is increasing".
The appeal submitted by GuraSOS contains the following: "In accordance with the precautionary principle, the amendment in question involves the introduction of hazardous waste, which means that the operation of the waste incineration plant is changed, since it involves the incineration of hazardous waste, which makes the modification substantial". GuraSOS assumes that the increased presence of plastics from packaging rejections and industrial waste will increase pollutant emissions.
