The Department of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands delivered this Thursday to the City Council of Teguise the works to recover the old illegal landfill of Soo, which have allowed the environmental regeneration of 42,774 square meters of surface thanks to an intervention executed by the Canary Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment (ACPMN).
The project is part of the plan designed by the Government of the Canary Islands to seal and recover the 47 illegal landfills subject to the infringement procedure opened by the European Commission in 2015, and which last February led to the filing of a lawsuit before the European Court of Justice. The lawsuit affects a total of 195 illegal landfills throughout Spain, of which almost fifty are located in the islands.
“The Canary Islands cannot afford a new sanction from the European Union in environmental matters, nor do our islands deserve the impact that these illegal landfills have on the landscape, which we have set out to eradicate before the end of the legislature,” said the Minister of Territorial Policy, Manuel Miranda.
The reception of the works was also attended by the mayor of Teguise, Olivia Duque, and the island councilor for Waste in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Domingo Cejas, who agreed to highlight the “environmental and landscape value” of this intervention.
As explained by the director of the ACPMN, Montserrat Ortega, 26 of the 47 landfills reported have already been sealed, which has allowed to regenerate an area of more than 755,000 square meters. Currently, work is being done on another seven landfills charged to the budget of the current year 2024.
Specifically, it is pending administrative procedures for the delivery of Punta de La Vaca (La Gomera), and environmental regeneration tasks are being carried out in Punta Gaviota (Gran Canaria) and Los Abrigos (Tenerife). In addition, it is expected that the Degollada Las Yeguas (Gran Canaria), Las Chafiras (Tenerife), the third phase of Majano (El Hierro) and Matas Blancas (Fuerteventura) can be awarded before the end of the year.
Works in Soo
The project executed in Soo, for an amount of 149,096.96 euros, has allowed to recover a space in which waste was accumulated, mostly construction materials and other bulky waste such as furniture, appliances, ferrous waste, plastics, tires and wood and pruning remains.
The works have lasted almost four months, began with a cleaning of the surface, along with the removal of such bulky waste. Once that first cleaning was completed, a mechanical sweeping was carried out, respecting the existing vegetation and dismantling and stabilization tasks were carried out on the existing slope.
Of the 47 landfills that are part of the procedure, four are located in Lanzarote. Among them is the sealed one of Soo, which has been delivered today, and the ones of Morros de Güime (San Bartolomé) and El Monte and Vega de Yágamo, both in Arrecife, are pending to be executed between 2025 and 2026.
The forecast for next year is to start work on five, which add up to an investment of more than four million euros: Riquel (Tenerife), Morros de Güime (Lanzarote), two in Granadilla de Abona (Tenerife) and Montaña Calacio (Gran Canaria).
