The PSOE Palma Socialist Party will defend a motion in the next plenary session of the City Council against the importation of waste for incineration due to the impact they claim it will have on neighbourhoods such as Son Sardina and its surroundings.
In a statement, the Socialists explained that they will call for an immediate halt to the measure and for the importation of waste from Ibiza, Formentera or any other place to the Son Reus plant on the outskirts of the city to be rejected, considering it ‘contrary to the principles of sustainability, territorial responsibility and the circular economy’.
Socialist councillor Daniel Oliveira said the issue is ‘very serious’ and that ‘the PP cannot be allowed to bring rubbish from other places to Palma again, as happened in 2012. We cannot accept that the mayor looks the other way and does not immediately defend the interests of the citizens of Palma,’ said the councillor, before adding that ‘the government of Marga Prohens and her extremist partners in Vox are laughing at the work that the people of Palma have been doing for years to comply with the environmental principles of reduction, reuse and recycling’.
The pilot scheme that the Balearic government wants to implement envisages the transfer of 30,000 tonnes in the first year, and between 80,000 and 90,000 tonnes in the following years of the remaining fraction, which means that only slightly more than 30% of the total 130,000 tonnes of waste generated will be recycled. Neither the government nor the council has proposed any waste reduction plan, or plan for the pre-treatment and separation of this waste, which would allow for a reduction in the waste generated.
In addition, they point out that the transport of more than 80,000 tonnes would lead to a substantial increase in heavy traffic, with around 15,000 more lorries each year on the main roads of Palma, increasing pressure on the ring road and the Soller road. This, they say, could directly affect the quality of life of the residents of Son Sardina and its surroundings, as well as increasing emissions and noise pollution.
They insist that this measure ‘contradicts the waste management hierarchy and represents a step backwards in the sustainable and environmentally responsible model that Palma and Mallorca have worked hard to build over recent legislative periods,’ explained Oliveira. For all these reasons, they will urge the plenary session to reject the corporation’s authorisation to import waste, to halt the initiative, to draw up a Master Plan for Waste Prevention and Management in Ibiza and to allocate funds to circular economy projects, improvement of recycling infrastructure, environmental innovation and citizen education, rather than co-financing the transport or incineration of waste from other territories.