The Department of the Environment has begun an environmental restoration project on the land formerly occupied by the municipal landfill. This project involves moving and spreading 30,000 m2 of topsoil and installing an irrigation system to restore native species to the Mediterranean ecosystem.
This marks the beginning of the final phase of the most significant environmental restoration project undertaken in our municipality. It began in 2006 when, within the Department of the Environment's Environmental Education Program, a series of initiatives were implemented with the municipality's educational centers. These included reforestation and the replacement of the vegetation cover installed during the sealing operations of the old landfill.
A long-term environmental action that has now come to a successful conclusion
During these planting operations in subsequent years, it was found that a large part of the sealed area lacked the quality or minimum thickness of topsoil to allow for this to be carried out. Therefore, in view of the problem this was causing, the decision was made to halt the work and prioritize the search for ways to fill the sealed area with topsoil, as otherwise the repopulation and environmental restoration work would have been futile in the short term.
Given the magnitude of the actions required, due to the large area of land and the high cost of recovery, a long-term but effective solution was proposed that fit with what is now called the circular economy. It consisted of proposing that in all municipal works where the extraction of topsoil was planned, the obligation to provide it on said land would be included in the projects, which reduced costs, avoided landfill disposal (prohibited for topsoil) and meant significant economic savings in taxes, transport and natural resources, in addition to achieving the necessary contribution of topsoil at zero cost to continue with the reforestation works.
Once the necessary topsoil had been supplied to a sufficiently large area, all that remained was to install an irrigation system and spread the piles of topsoil so that the layer remained approximately half a meter high.
The remaining step was to find funding, which was secured thanks to the contribution of LEADER funds. The project cost €26,740.88, of which €18,976.43 was contributed by LEADER funds. This allowed the Department of the Environment to begin implementing the project to move and spread the topsoil and install the irrigation system.
Following the project's completion, the City Council will resume planting native species of the Mediterranean ecosystem, thus consolidating the environmental restoration of this once severely degraded area.
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