The Catalan Waste Agency of Catalonia (ARC) plans to begin the definitive emptying of the Vacamorta landfill, closed by the courts in 2014, at the beginning of 2025. Work that will last sixteen years and whose cost will rise to approximately 190 million euros.
The installation, located in the municipal area of Cruïlles, Monells and Sant Sadurní de l'Heura (Baix Empordà), will culminate in March of next year the pilot test which consisted of the removal of about 20,000 tons of the 3.5 million contains the deposit.
The action makes it possible to separate waste based on size, extract ferrous materials, analyze the fractions and their possibilities for revaluation. It is estimated that approximately 40% of the material will be reusable.
At the moment, the companies working on emptying have confirmed that the fine and coarse fraction have little chance of recovery, due to the presence of some metals and hydrocarbons.
In the fine fraction, the presence of these components makes it impossible to manage it in a deposit of inert material, which are those that do not undergo chemical transformations and have a slight impact on the environment. The recovery possibilities would be more aimed at their use as cover layers for non-special waste deposits.
In any case, a test is being carried out using 1,000 cubic meters of these lands on which sorghum will be planted, a plant that has the capacity to grow in this type of land. With this experiment we want to evaluate the possibilities of degradation of hydrocarbons and metals.
As for the coarse fraction, it has been proven that it is rich in plastics, and would be accepted in a type 2 non-special waste deposit, which are those that are equipped to receive all those fractions of municipal waste that are not recoverable.
Technicians are analyzing its possibilities and tests are being carried out with companies in case they want to recover metals present in small proportions and other plastic materials. The Generalitat explains that although this waste still has some way to go, to date there has been no significant interest from any company or technology.
The pilot test seems to have ruled out the use of this waste to manufacture CSR (Solid Recovered Fuel), which is made with non-hazardous waste and which must also meet a series of technical specifications.
