Mallorca, which boasts of no longer dumping landfills, has for two decades treasured a project that combines technological innovation, circular economy and environmental dissemination: the Environmental Technologies Park managed by Tirme. The park brings together various facilities that operate in a complementary manner: a packaging selection plant, a methanization and composting unit, a solar sludge drying system, an Environmental Information and Education Center (CIEA) and, as a key piece, the energy recovery plant, capable of transforming the non-recyclable fraction into electricity for thousands of Majorcan homes.
The Mallorcan model demonstrates that the treatment of more than 700,000 tonnes of waste per year can be profitable, sustainable and educational. The combination of clean technologies, energy use and citizen participation has allowed Mallorca to get closer to the “zero discharge” objective, ahead of many regions on the continent. “What we do here could be applied in any European territory with political will and social commitment,” Antonio Pons, general director of Tirme, tells La Razón, highlighting that on the island we went “from talking about garbage to talking about resources” and gave as an example that the energy produced in the plant, in addition to guaranteeing its self-sufficiency, was able to supply electricity to some 85,000 homes.
The Tirme energy recovery plant is considered one of the most efficient on the continent. There, waste that cannot be recycled is converted into biogas that generates electrical and thermal energy, thanks to a controlled combustion system and advanced gas purification, which allows an installed power of close to 75 megawatts.
Waste processing begins with the selection of containers through optical systems, magnets and automatic separators. One of the most innovative elements of the park is the solar sludge drying installation, a system that reduces costs by taking advantage of solar radiation to reduce the humidity and volume of sludge from treatment plants. In addition, the slag resulting from the final process is used to produce eco-aggregates, a material used in construction, thus reducing the extraction of natural resources.
Pending challenges
The EU aims to achieve 65% recycling of municipal waste by 2035 and limit landfill disposal to 10%. However, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), only a handful of countries, including Germany, Belgium and Spain, which has an average recycling rate close to 40%, show solid progress towards those goals. Joaquín Pérez Viota, president of the Association of Urban Waste Energy Recovery Companies (Aeversu), comments that in view of these “very marked and complex” European objectives, it is “necessary for there to be very defined policies and planning.