The situation at the Insular Environmental Complex is critical. Regulatory inspections have identified “four highly significant deviations and another eight that remain uncorrected.” Hence, it is urgent for the Cabildo to take immediate action to protect the environment and the citizens of Arico,” stated Mayor Olivia Delgado following her visit to the landfill area of the island the day before yesterday.
The current state of the facility raises “deep concern and unease,” as the waste management system in Tenerife is “overwhelmed and operates under pressure far beyond its designed capacity.” Last year, 568,953 tonnes of waste were processed, a figure significantly exceeding the limits for which the complex was designed. The local government warns that “the situation has surpassed not only its operational capacity but also the load capacity of the municipality itself.” The landfill’s operations negatively impact “the well-being of citizens, public health, the natural environment, the perception of the territory, and our potential for economic development,” the mayor cautioned.
A fire was recorded in April 2024, and another occurred during the night of last Wednesday, affecting stored recycled materials. “These are merely the most visible parts of a fragile system lacking proper planning.” The mayor stated that “the complex’s lack of resilience was evident when, after the first fire, the Cabildo resorted to dumping unclassified solid waste, an emergency measure it maintained for months.”
Arico suffers from “the proliferation of odours, health risks, and environmental degradation, among other issues.” Furthermore, the negative impact on the municipality’s appeal as a tourist, residential, and agricultural investment destination “imitates economic diversification opportunities and generates an increasing sense of grievance among the local population.”
“Arico is tired of being the island’s doormat,” observed the first deputy mayor, Andrés Martínez, who articulated the expected response: “We demand better waste management and more compensation.” The councillor for the Environment, Miguel Beby, emphasised that “we cannot allow the operational deficiencies of the complex, such as dumping into cells or the absence of contingency plans, to continue harming our municipality.”
To urgently address the situation, the Arico Town Hall requested a meeting with the president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila. They will propose concrete measures, including an action plan with defined deadlines to rectify the management deficiencies at the Environmental Complex, to implement measures that promote a circular economy, reduce landfill dumping, and to activate the proposed clean point within the facility “as well as a fair compensation to mitigate the impacts that the citizens of Arico are suffering, among other issues.”
