The incinerator at the Maresme Comprehensive Waste Recovery Center is not a risk factor for the health of the population. This has been confirmed by the ninth phase of biological monitoring that Maresme Circular, the brand of the Maresme Waste Consortium, has commissioned from the Private Health Foundation of the Maresme Health Consortium.
The Maresme Waste Consortium has been carrying out this control for 29 years and, once again, the conclusions of the study confirm that the exposure of the Maresme population to the levels of dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls and heavy metals from the energy recovery does not pose any risk to your health.
To prepare the report, a multidisciplinary medical work team has been involved, with doctors, analysts and nurses from the Research Unit of the Health Foundation, the dioxin laboratory of the CSIC and the National Center for Working Conditions of Barcelona.
The study population was made up of a group of 250 people, including plant workers, residents of Mataró and Arenys de Mar, as well as lactating women from the capital of Maresme. All of them have had their levels of dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls measured in their blood – and breast milk, in the case of infants – and their levels of heavy metals in their blood and urine.
The sample has been divided into an 'exposed' group - people who live at a distance of less than 1.5km from the incinerator - and another 'non-exposed' group - people who live at a distance of more than 3km from the energy recovery plant. –, to be able to compare and evaluate the effects of the incinerator on the health of those in Maresme.
In 2022, the levels of Pb and Cd in blood and Hg and Ni in urine of the incinerator plant workers are similar (not significantly different) to the levels of the population of Mataró and Arenys de Mar and are clearly below the reference levels for the population not exposed at work. However, in 2022 the levels of Cr in urine of the workers at the incinerator plant are higher than the population values (2.99 vs 1.10 μg/L, respectively) and are above the reference levels of the population. not occupationally exposed, but below the reference values for the population with occupational exposure.
In 1995, with the commissioning of the incinerator, the Maresme Waste Consortium launched the first control over its possible impact on the health of the population. It was a pioneering study in Catalonia at the time. Today, this scientific study carried out in Mataró is the longest of all similar energy recovery plants existing in the State.
All the reports carried out over the years have scientifically determined that, on the one hand, the levels of dioxins and furans in the biological samples of the populations studied are comparable to those observed in industrial and urban areas of other regions of the country; and on the other hand, that exposure to the incinerator plant is not a risk factor for the health of the population.
The Maresme Comprehensive Waste Recovery Center treats more than 190,000 tons of waste per year from the rest fraction coming from Maresme and Vallès Oriental, prioritizing the recovery of materials from all recyclable products, including organic matter – in 2023 it recovered 20,300 tons of materials –, then optimizing energy recovery, thus following the waste management hierarchy established in European directives.
