Sixteen years after it was first proposed, the UTE Vega Baja, concessionaire of the regional waste plan, plans to register in the Consortium Vega Baja Sostenible, its proposal of a regional waste treatment plant to be located in Torremendo.
The facility will have to process the treatment and valorisation of more than 200,000 tons of garbage generated by the 27 municipalities that make up this public consortium, which also involves the Provincial Council of Alicante and the Generalitat Valenciana. There will be no landfill facility at the site, so the waste would continue to be taken to other landfills, as is currently the case, but significantly reducing the amount because of its prior treatment.
UTE Vega Baja, mostly owned by the German multinational Prezero, hopes to locate the plant on the same plot that was proposed back in 2008, but was ruled out due to social pressure, protests and the Brugal case.
It is located in the valley formed by the Sierras de Pujálvarez and El Cristo, an important part of the Sierra Escalona Protected Landscape. The site, between carob trees, almond trees and dry olive trees, has always been the preferred location because it is the furthest from large population centres.
Friends of Sierra Escalona (ASE) have already expressed their rejection of the location and despite Orihuela municipality being the chosen location, the news, broken by the Diario Informacion, has fallen like a bucket of cold water on the Orihuela City Council. The PP and Vox government team have completely refused to evaluate the proposal as they remain silent in response to the news that plans to locate this recycling plant on the land that was rejected by residents and environmentalists back in 2008.
Currently, Orihuela, which is the municipality that generates the most solid urban waste from the region, 45,000 tons a year, only behind Torrevieja, will double its transport and disposal expenditure this year, from three to over six million euros.
For the moment, at a cost of 150 euros per ton, garbage is taken to Dolores and from there Prezero-Ortiz (UTE Vega Baja) distributes it to other plants of Xixona – more than 40,000 tons a year of the Vega Baja -, Fontcalent in Alicante, Elche, Villena and Quart de Poblet (Valencia).
