Abanilla and Orihuela waste dump clean-up to be completed in December

13,800 tons of leachates have been removed from the Abanilla dump 

The regional government of Murcia announced on Thursday that the emergency work to repair the environmental damage at the Proambiente waste dump in Abanilla, which extends in part into the Alicante municipality of Orihuela, will be completed before the end of this year.

According to the Murcia government, by that point a total of 13,800 tons of leachates will have been removed, and at the same time the government of the Comunidad Valenciana confirms that the investment of a further 800,000 euros in extinguishing a fire inside the accumulated waste and sealing the area off is imminent. 

The final phase of the Murcia government’s clean-up operation is the restoration of the area affected to its natural condition, a job which is budgeted to cost almost 3 million euros. Among the tasks is that of stabilizing and sealing off the remaining waste in the three pits, and at the same time mechanisms will be put in place to collect and remove any further leachates and biogas produced.

In pits 1 and 2 approximately 60,000 cubic metres of waste has been reorganized in order to ensure its stability, and now this will be covered by four times that amount of earth and clay, 36,000 square metres of polyethylene and 69,000 square metres of geo-textiles, which will prevent rainwater from entering and thus ensure that the amount of leachates formed is kept to a minimum.  

This emergency clean-up began on 9th November 2015 and work has continued non-stop ever since.

It was five years ago, on 28th September 2011, that the government detected unauthorized dumping in the area of La Solana, following which the company Proambiente was ordered to take steps to compensate for the environmental damage which had been caused. On 3rd April 2013 the company made a 3.3-million-euro deposit to guarantee the restoration plan.

However, after work had been started and 486,000 euros had been spent the regional government in Murcia decided that progress was too slow, and in consequence the operating licences of the Proambiente plant were withdrawn. This came as a relief to environmental campaigners both in Abanilla and in the neighbouring municipality of Orihuela, and from that point on the job has been undertaken by the government.

For more local news, events and other information consult the Orihuela section of Alicante Today.