The Consell de Mallorca explained the project as part of the 1st International Ecoislas Forum.
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Tanca el cercle
The Vice President and Councillor for Sustainability and the Environment, Aurora Ribot, and the island’s Director of Waste, Juan Cruz Carrasco, are taking part in the 1st International Ecoislas Forum being held in Gran Canaria. The Ecoislas meeting covers four main thematic areas: the circular and blue economy; energy, water and mobility; adaptation to climate change; and regenerative tourism.
The councillor for the Environment spoke at the introductory session entitled Ecoislas, the challenge of the future, together with Inés Miranda, councillor for Territorial Policy and Landscape of the Council of Gran Canaria. Ribot reviewed issues related to waste, but also to energy, and the limits of tourism and mobility, among others.
Carrasco took part in the conference “Circular economy and blue economy: good practices in the circular economy on the islands”. The director shared a round table with Ana Fernández, an expert in the circular economy (Greening The Islands) and Claudia Sá, senior technician of the Regional Directorate of Environment and Climate Change of Madeira.
The director explained the main axes of the “Tanca el cercle” project: a strategic plan to close the circle of organic matter in Mallorca. Valued at around 200 million euros, the project is directly related to several sustainable development goals (SDGs) and foresees the construction of five organic matter treatment plants to be located in Llucmajor, Marratxí, Santa Margalida, Calvià and Felanitx.
The first of the plants to be built will be the one in Llucmajor, which has already received the first European funds. Specifically, 4.9 million euros from the sustainable tourism budget will go entirely to the organic plant in Llucmajor. And it will be possible to generate ecological compost which will be marketed at a public price. With the plants, the contradiction of having large quantities of organic material that is not used to generate compost will be addressed.
Regarding her participation in the 1st International Ecoislas Forum, the councillor for Sustainability and the Environment thanked the invitation and stressed that “it is an honour to be able to talk about the initiatives we are carrying out in Mallorca to move towards sustainability and that international experts are interested in the circular economy policies we are working on”.
“It is very enriching to learn first-hand about different management experiences and it encourages us to continue our commitment to courageous waste management in a finite territory. We have to become ecoislas if we want to achieve the milestones set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” added the councillor.
The island’s director of Residus, Juan Cruz Carrasco, was very positive about his experience and explained that “it is very necessary to be able to detail the strategy involved in the “Tanca el cercle” project and the possibility of treating all of Mallorca’s organic matter and to see how other territories adopt similar policies in this area. The challenge of organic matter is the only circle we can close in Mallorca and that is why it is so important to have this project declared strategic by the Govern de les Illes Balears and of general interest by the Consell de Mallorca”.
The “Tanca el cercle” project will be a step forward in many ways:
- We will make the Mallorcan primary sector stronger, increase resilience and decrease dependence on imports, thanks to the fact that the compound will be offered at a public price.
- Emissions associated with the import of compounds will be reduced, with approximately 8,395.92 tonnes of CO₂ emitted per year.
- Costs will be reduced for local councils thanks to the territorial distribution of the plants, as today all the organic waste has to be taken to Son Reus, and the emissions associated with these journeys will also be reduced.
- We will close the circle of organic matter in Mallorca; we will stop incinerating organic matter and we will increase our food sovereignty.