Residents call for Axarquía recycling centre to be closed and secured following recent wildfire

By Tuesday 4 August the Change.org platform had recorded nearly a hundred verified signatures which, according to organisers of the petition, were collected within the first 24 hours of the campaign being launched. The petition can be viewed and signed on Change.org via this link.

The petition is addressed to Árchez town hall and has been spearheaded by residents, homeowners, business owners and people with links to the village as well as nearby Cómpeta, Canillas de Albaida and the Axarquía area as a whole, according to its organisers. The signatories are calling for the site to remain closed until it can be demonstrated that it "no longer poses a risk to public safety".

Their demands include the closure and complete securing of the site to prevent unauthorised access, the removal of waste and combustible materials and the publication of the findings of the investigations as soon as legally possible. They are also calling for "greater transparency and accountability" regarding the day-to-day management of the site.

Before starting the petition the organisers sent a letter to the mayor, Mari Carmen Moreno, with a copy to the two socialist PSOE councillors. In the letter, they requested a written reply "by 10 August" and documentation regarding security, access control, CCTV cameras and the measures taken before and after the fire, provided that the provision of such information did not interfere with the official investigation.

The mayor has assured SUR that the town hall had no formal record of the online petition and had only received a letter from the PSOE in very similar terms. Moreno explained that the recycling centre has been sealed off by order of the regional government's environment department and that the cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Guardia Civil's nature protection service (Seprona) and the Infoca Plan.

The mayor added that any potential reopening would depend on the guidance from the regional government, as the competent authority on environmental matters, and from the Diputación de Málaga, which is responsible for managing the site. "We don't have a Local Police force and people have broken the seal that was put in place; we are waiting, coordinating with the other two authorities," said Moreno.

The Árchez recycling centre has been at its current location for several years, having previously been situated on another plot even closer to the district road leading to the centre of Árchez.

The fire broke out at around 12.40pm on Friday 17 July alongside the A-7206 road and in the vicinity of the recycling centre. The advance of the flames forced the precautionary evacuation of 162 people from 65 homes scattered across Árchez, Cómpeta and Canillas de Albaida, as well as confining the approximately 4,400 residents in Cómpeta for several hours. The operation mobilised 220 personnel, 56 pieces of equipment and twelve aerial resources.

Although no injuries were reported, the fire caused serious damage to farms, rural homes, roads and irrigation networks. An initial assessment carried out by Cómpeta town hall put the losses to the countryside at around two million euros, with more than fifty farms damaged and around 10,000 avocado, olive and grapevines burnt to a crisp.

The Spanish government has included Árchez amongst the areas affected by a civil protection emergency due to the forest fires recorded in 2026. This declaration enables those affected and local authorities to apply for compensation for damage to homes, household goods, farms, businesses and infrastructure. Moreno has asked the government's representative in Malaga to clarify the procedures so that those affected can access this compensation.