A strategic infrastructure that will allow 21,000 tonnes of organic waste to be treated per year will require a total investment of 30 million euros, 20 million of which will be financed with European funds.
The President of the Consell de Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, laid the first stone of the new composting plant for the organic fraction of municipal waste (FORM) in Llucmajor on Wednesday, which will be ‘a strategic infrastructure to advance better waste management in Mallorca’.
It is an ambitious project with an overall investment of 30 million euros, some 20 million of which will be financed by the Next Generation European funds to which the island institution has had access.
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President Galmés lays the first stone of the composting plant in Llucmajor
During his speech, Galmés pointed out that ‘the future facility that has begun construction today will be able to manage up to 57 tonnes of organic waste per day, which translates into 21,000 tonnes per year, making it possible to generate high-quality compost that can be used in the island’s fields and gardens’.
The president said, ‘This is one more infrastructure to advance in meeting the EU recycling targets, and that strengthens our commitment to continue working on the challenge of achieving the goal of zero waste in Mallorca. This means committing to a model of environmental protection that is key to the future of our island.
On this point, Galmés explained that ‘the collection of the organic fraction has increased by 35% in the last two years on our island’, although he insisted that ‘given this increase, the Consell has to improve the facilities to adapt to this demand and to be able to carry out quality waste treatment management’.
The event was also attended by the second vice-president and councillor for the Environment, Rural Affairs and Sports, Pedro Bestard; the councillor for Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Juame Bauzá Mayol; the general director of TIRME, Antonio Pons Bascones; the island’s director of Waste, Margalida Roig, as well as the mayoress of Llucmajor Town Council, María Francisca Lascolas, among other authorities from the island.
For his part, the councillor for the Environment, Rural Affairs and Sports, stressed ‘the importance of involving the whole of society in this project to increase recycling levels on the island. Households, businesses and shops need to raise awareness throughout society to continue moving towards the Mallorca we all want.
The new composting plant in Llucmajor will be built on the plot earmarked for this purpose in the Sectoral Master Plan for Non-Hazardous Waste in Mallorca. The plant will occupy an overall surface area of some 36,000 square metres.
Tirme is the concessionary company of the insulated public service for the treatment of urban and similar waste in Mallorca, whose owner is the Consell de Mallorca, and is in charge of executing the project for the new plant, which is expected to be operational in 2026.
The Consell will contribute 20 million euros from European funds.
The Consell de Mallorca’s government team has been committed from the outset to promoting this project, which was in a very early stage of processing when the current legislature began.
It was on 16 November 2023, when the island institution and the concessionaire of the public waste management service in Mallorca, TIRME, formalised the contract that will enable the construction project for a composting plant to get underway. This agreement was made possible after the Consell de Mallorca approved the modification of the contract with the company, whereby the island institution contributed 4.9 million euros to the project, financed through the European Union’s Next Generation recovery and resilience funds.
Another important step towards making this new plant a reality took place on 24 July 2024, when the island institution was awarded 14.2 million euros for the execution of two phases of the composting plant from European funds.
In this way, the Consell de Mallorca has managed to reach the total amount, which is around 20 million euros from European funds, to finance a work whose planned investment is 30 million euros, so that ‘a very important part of the estimated cost of this action will be covered by the commitment we have shown in achieving these EU funds,’ added President Galmés.