Since 2023, the town of Guardamar del Segura has accumulated more than 2,500 discarded mattresses on a municipal plot used as a temporary storage site, highlighting ongoing difficulties in managing bulky waste across the Vega Baja region.
The issue came to light after the local branch of the People’s Party (PP) publicly denounced the open-air storage area, located in the Pallaret district, and reported the situation to SEPRONA, the environmental unit of the Civil Guard.
According to the PP, mattresses collected from the town’s ecopark had been stockpiled for years without adequate monitoring, treatment, or documentation. The party warned that such practices could breach environmental regulations and pose risks to public health, including soil contamination, pest infestations, and fire hazards.
Following the complaint, authorities began removing the waste in April. Around 2,000 mattresses have since been cleared by a specialized company, although the PP has criticised the lack of transparency regarding how the operation was carried out, the companies involved, and the final destination of the waste. An investigation into the matter remains ongoing.
Mayor José Luis Sáez, from the PSOE, attributed the situation to structural limitations in regional waste management. He explained that the Vega Baja Sostenible Consortium stopped accepting mattresses at the Dolores transfer station in 2023, forcing the municipality to improvise a storage solution on a 50,000-square-metre site near the wastewater treatment plant.
The clean-up operation has cost the council approximately €38,000, excluding transport. In addition, around 300 mattresses deemed reusable were donated to an NGO for redistribution in Burkina Faso.
The mayor rejected claims that the site functioned as an illegal landfill, describing it instead as a “controlled storage area” and confirming that the situation has been reported to SEPRONA. While no fines have been issued, authorities have instructed the council to resolve the issue.
The case underscores broader challenges faced by municipalities in disposing of bulky waste such as mattresses, which are costly to handle and difficult to recycle, leaving local governments with limited and often inadequate options.
