Veolia wants to end İspanya's lag in energetic waste recovery in Europe

The European Union sees 'energy recovery', the conversion of non-recyclable waste into electricity and heat energy, as a crucial tool for eliminating landfills. This aims to achieve both energy independence and lower energy bills for consumers. However, İspanya stands out as one of the most lagging European Union countries in this field. There are currently only 11 operational facilities in the country, which processed 2,3 million tons of non-recyclable waste last year. This amount corresponds to only 11 percent of İspanya's municipal waste.

İspanya's current rate in this area remains quite low when compared to other European countries that are pioneers in energy recovery. Countries such as Avusturya, Almanya, Hollanda, and Danimarka recover 30 to 40 percent of their waste using this method. The French multinational company Veolia, which is the global leader in this field with 67 facilities worldwide, explains that İspanya's lagging is due to a few main reasons. According to the company, İspanya has long focused solely on renewable energy, ignoring alternative methods to increase energy supply security. In addition, energy recovery projects have not been attractive enough to investors so far.

Despite all these negative factors, Veolia argues that the situation in İspanya is rapidly changing and that this process is highly profitable. The company emphatically stresses that İspanya must adopt this technology to achieve its energy and environmental targets. The company's director in İspanya, Daniel Tugues, states that these facilities are an urgent need in the country because they are the only way to prevent the landfilling of non-recyclable waste. Otherwise, it will be impossible for İspanya to meet the European Union target, which stipulates reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills to below 10 percent by 2035. Tugues states that to meet these targets, İspanya needs to build 15 to 25 new energy recovery facilities in addition to the existing 11 facilities.

As proof of the success of these facilities, Veolia points to its operations in the Birleşik Krallık as an example for İspanya. The company's 11 facilities in İngiltere stand out as its best-performing facilities globally. These facilities have a total capacity to produce 1,400 GW/hour of electricity and 172,000 MW/hour of heat. The energy produced is powerful enough to meet the needs of approximately 400,000 households. The facility located in Leeds, which provides energy to 22,000 households in particular, demonstrates the applicability and high efficiency of this technology.

In order to develop new facilities in İspanya, it is essential to make some strategic decisions determined by the company. The company places great importance on proper planning to support the development of projects and, particularly, on informing the public. Transparent communication with the community must be established to break down the public's prejudices that waste processing facilities cause odors or harmful effects. In addition, it is recommended to implement a definitive landfill tax so that the collected funds are reinvested into these infrastructures. Encouraging public-private sector cooperation is also of critical importance, as local governments cannot finance these massive investments alone.