The first shipment of waste from Ibiza has already arrived in Mallorca as part of the pilot project agreed upon by the two island councils. The shipment, consisting of five trucks carrying the residual waste fraction, arrived last night in an operation that, according to the Council of Mallorca, was carried out “in full compliance with environmental standards.”
The Council of Ibiza has celebrated the “success” of the operation, which was completed in the early hours of Thursday morning. This was despite the ship sailing several hours late while improvements requested by the Port Captain’s Office were being carried out, as it had detected unspecified problems with the vessel. Ignacio Andrés, Ibiza’s Councillor for Environmental Management, Sustainability, Innovation, and Transparency, explained that on this first trip, five platforms were deployed, which collectively transported 120 tons of waste, “all fully packaged and pre-treated to prevent odors and insect infestation.”
For his part, Pedro Bestard, the Council of Mallorca’s Councillor for Environment, Agriculture and Sport, traveled to Ibiza along with the island’s Director of Waste Management, Margalida Roig, to supervise the start of the operation. Ignacio Andrés, the Councillor for Environmental Management of the Ibiza Council, also participated in monitoring the operation, accompanying the waste transport until it arrived at the Tirme composting plant, where it will be processed.
Bestard argued that the transport is carried out under conditions designed to minimize any negative impact on the environment. As the regional minister explained, the waste arrives “packaged and treated to prevent odors, in a maximum of seven trucks a day, so that its transport has no impact on traffic.” The island’s minister also highlighted that the Son Reus plant is currently operating at 70 percent of its capacity, which means that “it has enough capacity to process the waste from Ibiza.” In his opinion, the agreement will also have an economic benefit for Mallorca, as it will allow the Council to reduce the solid urban waste (SSU) fee by 10 percent, “benefiting the economy of all Mallorcan residents.”
A maximum of seven trucks per day
The institution attributes this reduction to the grant awarded by the Government of the Balearic Islands to the Council of Mallorca in its capacity as the waste-receiving authority. The grant, linked to the amortization of investments made by the service concessionaire in the island’s treatment plants, amounts to 50 million euros spread over ten years. The pilot project involves the transport of up to seven trucks per day for five business days. The overland journey across Mallorca is made at night with the goal of “not affecting traffic or causing any other inconvenience.” For reference, the Council notes that during the month of June, an average of 780 trucks per day entered Son Reus.
The agreement signed between the island councils of Mallorca and Eivissa establishes that the waste fraction must leave the waste management facilities in Eivissa in the form of bales, secured with straps and packaged with shrink film. Additionally, the transport must be carried out in fully enclosed flatbed trucks or vehicles with watertight containers. Both the maritime and land transport, as well as all logistics-related costs, will be covered by the Ibiza Island Council.
The arrival of the first convoy was also met with a public protest. Residents of Son Sardina, together with members of the Platform Against Waste Imports, gathered Wednesday evening at the roundabout on the Sóller road, in front of the Son Sardina station, to express their opposition to the start of the operation.
The protesters displayed banners with slogans such as “No to Unnecessary Imports” to express their opposition to the project and highlight the impact they believe it could have. Adding to the protest are concerns stemming from the Maritime Authority’s detention of the ship responsible for the transport, an incident that, according to the campaign group, has heightened fears of a potential risk of marine pollution during the voyage.
