SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, January 29. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Tenerife Cabildo announced on Monday the establishment of the Steering Committee, responsible for identifying the Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) projects to be executed, having approved various initiatives totaling 9 million euros allocated to the universities and research centers on the island.
Moreover, in collaboration with UTE Nivaria – a joint venture of Urbaser and FCC Medio Ambiente, the waste management concessionaire for the island, the presentation of ten new trucks and five transfer containers aimed at enhancing the treatment and transportation of waste across the island’s geography took place.
These actions are part of the contract granted by the Council to UTE Nivaria, as per a statement from the corporation.
The event was attended by the president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila; the Minister of Natural Environment, Sustainability and Security and Emergencies, Blanca Pérez; the insular director of Waste, Alejandro Molowny, and representatives of the companies Urbaser and FCC that make up the UTE Nivaria.
“Today marks a significant turning point in waste management on the island of Tenerife. Upon entering a new phase in the government, I instructed my team to begin working on this contract, valued at approximately 397 million euros for the next 15 years, which was practically at a standstill,” stated Dávila.
The president of the Cabildo expressed gratitude to the representatives of UTE Nivaria “for the diligence they have shown over the past seven months in reshaping the situation.”
“Today we are not only introducing these new vehicles and transfer containers, but we are establishing the governing committee that has sanctioned nine significant projects for the island of Tenerife and its universities, amounting to nine million euros,” she added.
Rosa Dávila emphasized that “these projects are associated with research, development, and innovation applied to waste management, which will be undertaken by our universities and the Technological Institute of Renewable Energy.”
The Governing Council will convene every six months and has outlined a total of 20 projects to be implemented in Tenerife, aiming not only for improved waste management but also for environmental enhancement, which is a “priority” for the Cabildo, she remarked.
Rafael Guinea, speaking on behalf of UTE Nivaria, addressed the “difficult beginnings” with the new waste contract.
“INITIAL CHALLENGES” WITH THE NEW WASTE CONTRACT
“We encountered initial challenges for various reasons, but we remain committed to developing the contract awarded by the Cabildo. The Cabildo’s vision is to establish waste management as an absolute benchmark at the island and global level, and that is our commitment, to become a reference for the circular economy,” he emphasized.
“We aim to approach things differently and, therefore, there is a substantial investment not only in machinery but also in staff expertise and R&D, striving to build a development network across Tenerife that will change the perspective of all Tenerife residents towards waste and begin to view it as a resource. We stand alongside the Cabildo in achieving this, marking the first of many steps that we need to continue taking, as we are committed to serving and fulfilling the agreed commitments,” he expressed.
Blanca Pérez emphasized their diligent work on implementing projects that will enhance the Tenerife Environmental Complex and its diverse infrastructures.
“These are highly significant projects that will significantly improve waste management, allowing us to regain Tenerife’s deserving status. We can progress towards a circular economy and maximize the recycling of the waste arriving at our transfer plants,” she stated.
Alejandro Molowny, the insular director of Waste, affirmed that the projects approved by the Governing Council “are linked to enhancing the provision of public waste management services.”
Consequently, he pointed out that “these projects are locally developed, and the added value from this research remains in the Canary Islands, always with careful consideration for the environment and positioning Tenerife where it belongs, with a waste management model for the island as the outermost region of the European Union.”
He added, “We aspire for Tenerife to become a model in terms of circular economy and environmental sustainability.”
WASTE TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES
The transfer trucks are responsible for transporting waste and packaging containers from the four transfer plants to the Tenerife Environmental Complex, while the transfer containers are utilized for carrying waste or packaging between the different management infrastructures.
Additionally, within the first quarter of this year, three internal transport trucks of the Environmental Complex will be put into operation, which are responsible for moving recovered materials and waste between the treatment plants. Furthermore, there is a plan in place to repaint the 130 containers currently in service.
Specifically, the Steering Committee has sanctioned nine projects: development of a bio-fertilizer from the organic fraction of urban solid waste (ULL); valorization of polyurethane foams from the comfort sector (mattresses) for value-added applications. University of La Laguna (ULL); technologies for hydrogen production through biogas and/or methane reforming using advanced membrane reactors (Universities of La Laguna, Zaragoza, and Valladolid); advanced pretreatment systems based on artificial vision and robotics technologies for the identification, characterization, and automatic classification of materials (University of La Laguna and University of Zaragoza); research on greenhouse gas emissions via drones (Involcan and local drone companies); Study of innovative solar panels for landfill coverage (ITER); use of zeolites in the inerting of concentrates from the leachate treatment process (European University and Ewaste company); elimination of contaminants in leachate using microplastics and/or urban plastic waste (ULL), and an intelligent management system for the selective collection of hotel waste (ULL).
