Villena refuses to receive waste from Vega Baja despite the capacity of its plant

A proposal that will be discussed at the Crea Consortium next Monday, April 27th, is the Villena City Council’s opposition to the possibility of the municipality’s waste treatment facility receiving garbage from the Vega Baja region.

The facility, which was recently modernised with a €12 million investment from European funds and is managed by Vaersa, is maintained by the Consortium to have sufficient capacity. It is intended to process approximately 100,000 tonnes annually, but it is presently processing approximately 65,000 tonnes, which accounts for 60% of the operation, according to their data. Therefore, they are of the opinion that it has the potential to enhance efficacy and manage a greater volume of waste.

Nevertheless, the Mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdán (PSOE), categorically rejects this alternative. Cerdán cautions that the proposed agreement could extend for up to eight years and would result in a volume of up to 39,000 tonnes per year, which would be a “substantial increase” in the current burden. According to him, this would affect the quality of life of residents, infrastructure, and traffic.

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Additionally, it raises concerns regarding the agreement’s legality, contending that it may be in direct opposition to the Comprehensive Waste Management Plan of the Valencian Community, which authorises transfers solely in exceptional and transitory circumstances. It also denounces the document’s inconsistencies, including the simultaneous establishment of a maximum and a minimum of 39,000 tonnes.

The mayor is adamant that Villena has already demonstrated “sufficient solidarity” in response to the refuse it received from the recent storm and is opposed to the use of financial incentives to accept additional waste. In this regard, he critiques the absence of infrastructure in the Vega Baja region, where waste is currently being dispersed among numerous communities.

The City Council has convened an urgent extraordinary plenary session in response to this situation to demonstrate its repudiation. It is not ruling out legal action if the agreement is implemented. In the interim, the Crea Consortium maintains that the optimisation of a plant that is presently “underutilised” would not place a strain on its capacity, as they assert, by accepting waste from the Vega Baja region. In this vein, the consortium emphasises that refuse from the Vega Baja region is dispersed among other facilities, including those in Alicante, Elche, and Valencia.