The PSOE in the Cabildo of Tenerife, the main opposition group, expresses to Canarias Ahora its deep concern over how waste is being managed on the Island during the current mandate. They have already defined 2024 as the “worst year” in this area in the “last 40 years, due to the lower recovery rate and the higher number of tonnes buried”. The socialists fear that the situation will worsen in 2025 and criticise, particularly, the state of the Arico plant and the “failure” concerning three of the eight new clean points planned, as their tenders have either gone unawarded or the awarded companies have withdrawn, necessitating new calls which, according to councillor Javier Medina, will be presented as a “relaunch” of management and recycling.
Far from this, Medina believes that this management “is going through a critical moment on the Island, marked by contractual breaches, failed tenders, and unfulfilled promises in key projects for waste treatment and recycling”.
In this regard, he asserts that the mechanical treatment plant (the Arico environmental complex), responsible for processing non-separated waste and recovering recyclable materials such as cardboard, containers, and metals, is failing to meet the minimum recovery percentages set out in the 2022 contract. This leads to “a greater volume of waste being sent directly to landfill, increases costs for the Cabildo, and exposes it to possible legal and financial consequences due to this non-compliance”.
On the clean points, the PSOE reminds that these are “projects inherited from the socialist government and Ciudadanos which are funded by European funds, but whose execution is blocked. In the previous mandate – highlights Medina – plans were drafted and approved to build eight new clean points, aiming to increase from eight to sixteen. Furthermore, they managed with the Government of the Canary Islands the acquisition of just over 5 million euros in European funds to finance these actions”.
In fact, he recalls that, “from the resolution of July 2024, it is stated that the Cabildo participated in the grant call of 2022 and that, on June 15, 2023, funding was granted: approximately 5.2 million for the clean points plan and additional funds for two circular composting community projects”. However, and as he denounces, “one year after receiving the funds, the new ruling group had barely progressed: in 2024 they approached the Government of the Canary Islands to request authorisation to subcontract, and by 2025, although they have attempted to tender some actions, the lack of management keeps the programme at a total and absolute standstill”.
The socialists detail that, in May 2024, the start of works for the new clean point in Arico was announced and that, although the contract was awarded, “a year later, practically nothing had been executed and the awarded company withdrew. The contract was resolved and the project was paralysed”. In July 2025, resolutions were published to restart the contracting file and a correction of errors. “When the new tender is finally issued, it will probably be presented as a boost to the project, without mentioning that it was already a failure and that the work announced over a year ago has been virtually unexecuted,” criticises the councillor.
High-profile announcements that lead nowhere
The PSOE is very critical of the fanfare announcements by the insular government of CC and PP, which then amount to nothing and confirm the failure in this area. Thus, they remind that the clean point in the municipality of Tegueste was left vacant, “although the Cabildo has not publicly communicated this nor opened a new procedure”.
Furthermore, regarding the one in Los Rodeos, in La Laguna, he points out that, in September 2024, the works were awarded with a budget of 723,320 euros and an execution period of eight months, financed with NextGenerationEU funds. “The contract was subsequently resolved due to the contractor’s withdrawal, and the project has gone out to tender again, this time with a significantly increased budget of 1.1 million euros. Despite this overcost, no public information has been provided regarding the reasons for the withdrawal, nor the current status of execution,” states Medina.
Therefore, the Socialist Group denounces that, “of the eight new planned and funded clean points, none have been inaugurated in this mandate, and the programme that had funding and ready projects finds itself with a stalled engine”.
In this line, they also emphasise that regarding the Montaña Birmagen plant for organic matter, “presented in September 2023 as the flagship project for the treatment of these waste types, the Cabildo promised it would be operational in the second half of 2025. However, the necessary land has yet to be acquired nor is there a technical project drafted, meaning that organic fraction continues to lack a specific infrastructure for its treatment”.
In light of these facts, the PSOE criticises that the current situation “combines resolved contracts due to withdrawal, vacant tenders, awarded works without progress and strategic projects failing to take off. This hampers the execution of European funds, delays environmental objectives, and deteriorates public confidence in the Cabildo’s ability to manage an essential service”.
