Recycling
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Recycling has become one of the great challenges of the western world, where waste is accumulating everywhere. For this reason, the principle of the 'three Rs' - Recycle, Reduce and Reuse - has been spreading among the population for many years now. Environmental regulations that enact agreements such as the 2030 Agenda aim precisely to boost waste recycling and reduce our environmental footprint.
With these principles in mind, Altos de Canillas S.L., based in Vélez-Málaga, has proposed a project to create a large recycling complex for the collection and recycling of non-hazardous waste in the area known as Lomilleja de Mingana, Cardal and Loma Cuchiche, in the municipality of Canillas de Aceituno. The initiative has been drafted by the architect Francisco Javier Blanco and was presented to the Junta de Andalucía in 2019. It proposes a private investment of 2.2 million euros.
The regional administration published an agreement on 7 November which opens a period of public information on the project, as part of the procedure for granting the corresponding authorisation for works and construction. Interested parties may present objections to the project.
SUR has verified that residents of the area around Canillas de Aceituno have begun to mobilise, with a collection of signatures against the environmental complex. More than 250 residents who have joined together and when asked about this, the mayor of Canillas, Vicente Campos told SUR that he had "no information" about the project. "I know as much as the residents, when I see it I will make a statement," he said.
It should be remembered that in Canillas de Aceituno the only construction waste treatment plant in the Axarquía has been paralysed for more than two years, after receiving a fine of 250,000 euros from the Junta de Andalucía, which is being appealed.
The project is to be carried out on a 30.67-hectare, steeply sloping plot of land next to the access road to Canillas de Aceituno. The plot on which the activity is planned is classified as non-developable. Regarding the business idea, the developers state that "it arises from the increased demand for a recycling centre for different materials and to include a research centre for the recycling of different materials, the scarcity of this type of centres and the interest in sustainability and the environment, makes the present project viable".
The installation planned for Canillas de Aceituno "aims to make social awareness of the environmental conditions of the physical environment compatible with the new concepts of recycling and reuse of waste from construction work to replace materials obtained from the exploitation of natural resources, thereby reducing the environmental impact that this entails," they argue.
The facilities would comprise the following areas: administrative and educational, research, collection and treatment, landfill, access and parking. The plans reproduced in the project show separate areas for the storage and recycling of construction and demolition waste, bio-waste, sludge, bulky waste, household appliances, plastics, scrap metal, landfill, viewpoint, administration and education. The total built-up area is 593 square metres.
The project is expected to take between two and three years to complete once all the bureaucratic permits have been obtained, according to the architect. "This action is part of the current policies of both the Junta de Andalucía and the Spanish government to promote recycling and sustainability. Given the nature of the building, its location in relation to the municipality and the public interest in this activity, there is no doubt about the implementation of this type of activity on undeveloped land," said the professional who has drawn up the project for the environmental complex.
For the architect, "the modification of the landscape is totally unavoidable during the lifetime of the environmental complex. The accumulation and sorting areas, the installation of recycling machinery, the presence of heavy machinery and lorry traffic, the construction of a warehouse and the accumulation of waste are all elements that alter the current landscape configuration".
However, in his opinion, "the impact on the landscape will only be noticeable in the immediate vicinity of the recycling plant, since the project is designed on two levels separated by a slope of no more than four metres in order to remove the outside view of the machinery". In any case, the architect proposes that, "in order to avoid a greater visual impact from the outside, the accumulation of waste, both in the valuation phase and in the deposit phase once it has been recycled, may not be higher than 2.5 metres, with a slope inclination of no more than 45 degrees".
Spokesman for the Axarquía-based Gabinete de Estudios de la Naturaleza (GENA)-Ecologistas en Acción, Rafael Yus, has said, "Everything that is waste control, and even better, if it is recycled and enters into the circular economy, is blessed by our organisation, which has spent years denouncing the neglect that exists on this issue." However, he believes that the location "is very bad, and what will happen is that they will continue to dispose of the rubble wherever they can find it nearby".
In his opinion, "The ideal would be for this plant to be built in Vélez-Málaga, for example in Las Campiñuelas, where the El Prado brick factory used to be." But he added, "Of course, this will be much more expensive than the land in Canillas de Aceituno, which has neither crops nor scrubland, with enormous slopes, valleys that will be filled with rubble, thus achieving flat terrain to promote subtropical crops," said Yus, who added, "This is an assumption based on what has been done in other parts of the region."
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