Residents of San Miguel de Salinas have started a campaign to make visible their rejection of the possible construction of a waste treatment plant just 2.5 kilometres from the town centre. They have visited the proposed site where they have been erecting many different banners stating their objection to the Vega Baja consortium’s proposal.
Banners which say “No garbage here,” and “No to the garbage plant,” are also adorning many roads and buildings in the area.
The project, which has been proposed by the company OHL to the Vega Baja Sustainable Consortium foresees a waste treatment plant which will process up to 120,000 tons of waste per year and would be located, according to the San Miguel Councillor for the Environment, Maria José Costa, just 2.5 kilometres from the town centre, in rustic land around Villa Antonia, occupying an area of more than 29,000 square meters.
According to a report commissioned by the City Council, the installation would cause noise pollution, obnoxious smells and many other problems for the local population and for the environment around the Natural Park of Lagunas de La Mata and Torrevieja.
Consortium managers are studying the viability of the project and, if it meets their requirements, the construction and operation of a waste treatment plant would be opened to public tender, although according to Pineda that does not mean that it will definitely be built installed in San Miguel, since the companies that enter the tender programme will have to propose the location.
