LAWR

RECYCLING FROM AN ISLAND October 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 29 Recycling on the sunshine coast Spain has long been a favourite of British holidaymakers. Tourists return year after year to places in the Canary Islands such as Lanzarote. But do they ever stop to think about how waste is collected and transported around? Tim Byrne finds out more. he municipality of Tias in Lanzarote is home to the largest tourist resort on the island: Puerto Del Carmen, which receives tourists from the UK, Germany, Holland, Sweden as well as Eastern Europe all year round. The collection of waste is, therefore, a very important task because of the hot climate twelve months of the year combined with large quantities of waste being produced by hotels, bars and restaurants. Tias produces more than 20,000 tonnes of waste per annum. Tias has recently awarded a ten-year waste collection contract to Fomento De Construcciones Y Contratas, S.A. (FCC) - Spain's largest environmental services contractor. FCC aims to provide a range of services to the municipality which include waste collection, street and beach cleaning services and the washing of empty waste containers. Twenty eight Kiggen portable compactors, have been purchased from Geesinknorba Spain to provide a more efficient waste collection service to the hotels and resort of Puerto Del Carmen, comprising seven Kiggen PD729 14-cubic metre capacity units and twenty one PD731 units of 25 cubic metres capacity. The compactors are replacing the 800 and 1000 litre containers currently used by the municipality to collect the hotels' and resort's waste so all waste could be placed in one large compactor container at communal collection points, which is far more hygienic, reducing odours produced in the warm temperatures. Schedule Waste collection starts early. The service starts at 6am and finishes around 1pm. However, at the start of the summer season, the collection service will start at 5am before any tourists are up and traffic builds up in the resort. This helps to provide an efficient waste collection and transfer system without inconveniencing tourists. "The reason the municipality decided to purchase the twenty eight Kiggen portable compactors from Geesinknorba Spain was to improve the environment of Tias because the tourist areas are very important to the island's local economy," says Franciso Aparicio, councillor for the Environment at the Municipality of Tias. Once the Kiggen portable compactors are full, they are lifted onto a Scania P320 Series 6x2 chassis, using a Cayvol hook loader system and are transported to the waste treatment plant in the centre of the island called Complejo Ambiental de Zonzamas. The waste treatment plant is operated by the Excmo Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote - the island council (county council). Waste collection and transfer vehicles from the seven councils across the island - Arrecife, Tias, Haria, San Bartolome, Teguise, Tinajo and Yaiza - deliver the waste directly to this facility. It is open to accept deliveries of waste twenty four hours a day although 80% of waste is delivered to the facility in the day while the remaining 20% is delivered in the night from Arrecife. Municipal waste is buried in the sanitary landfill which has existed on this site for over four decades. The site also has a crematorium for animal carcases, a bulking station for old furniture and a bulking station for paper, cardboard, glass and plastic recyclables, for example, PET, HDPE and Tetrapak pre-sorted for baling and transport to reprocessors in both the Canary Islands and mainland Spain. There is also a dirty MRF operational on site which processes some of the cleaner municipal waste delivered by Arrecife, Tias and the five other municipalities if it is not too soiled with food waste. The plant extracts paper and cardboard, plastic, for example, PET, HDPE, Tetrapaks, glass and food waste. This facility helps Lanzarote meet its EU landfill diversion targets. All in all, this Spanish island is blessed not just with sunshine but with its new Kiggen portable compactors. They are helping the municipality of Tias to provide a very sustainable and efficient waste collection and transfer system for many years to come. So, next time you visit the island watch out for one. T Scania P320 Series 6x2 chassis fitted with Cayvol hook loader sys- tem and Kiggen PD731 container

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