Waste fires, the purifying fire.

Some time ago we published the following plan on social networks. In it, we represented the damage that the purifying fire was doing to waste management facilities, where uncontrolled fires appeared.

Those 11 fires in just over 4 months seemed exaggerated to us, but our innocence never made us foresee that this was just the beginning. The Valyrian Fire of the Managers, based on the famous Fire of Seseña, has continued to grow and spread, and is leaving the sector reduced to ashes.

Proof of this is the video that we have posted these days as a spoiler on the networks, and which has triumphed so much. In it you can see how it is possible to go from 2.7 fires/month to the 5 to 8 fires we are currently seeing, without anyone taking action on the matter.

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https://ideasmedioambientales.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/fuegovalyrioresiduos.mp4.mp4

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And despite the fact that the evidence is scandalous, and the plague generated is totally relevant, no one seems to notice. Except for four cats like us, Sustainable Blog, Sustainability Producer, and some platforms such as Waste Managers, no media outlet has offered greater relevance to these issues, beyond the classic reference to occasional fire on a local or at most regional scale.

FORTUITOUS INDEMNITY, really?

Only by analyzing the news that is posted in the local media can we realize that this increase is largely intentional, premeditated and clearly linked to illegal activities and/or managers who sink into misery:

• Strangely virulent fires that force several fire units to be moved.
• Generated at night or early in the afternoon, at mealtime.
• When there was no one left on the ship, thanks to which there is no need to regret human casualties.
• Extensive material damage and tons of waste missing.
• Fires that are repeated several times in the same installation (e.g. those in Caudete de las Fuentes or L'Alcudia)
• Municipalities and geographical areas that accumulate several fires (e.g. Chiloeches, which has had 7 fires in the last year)

But why do they do it?

Some indicate that this is pure speculation. Managers accumulate waste to find the best price for the fraction of waste they have to sell, and while looking for it, they end up accumulating the waste and either run unnecessary risks, or they set fire to it intentionally because they can't find a way out in the market.

This theory seems difficult to us. And in fact, if we compare parameters such as the price of mixed paper for recycling (€/ton) versus the number of registered fires, there doesn't seem to be a big link. Mixed paper, one of the categories that burns the most in these fires, has been increasing its price for some time, and yet the number of fires continues to grow.

But then, why do they set fire to the facilities?

It is true that in the sector it is important to obtain a good price, as in any business, but this price has several aspects for the manager to consider, with very narrow margins of maneuver, which in any case make it not advisable to play with the storage of thousands of tons of waste.

Good managers know that the trick to making money in the sector lies in the amount of waste you move and not in the amount of waste you store.

The main problem, from our point of view, is that in Spain there is no charge for managing waste, but for taking ownership of it. This means that, if the person who assumes ownership of the waste is a criminal, or directly an incompetent person, the treatment is not effective when appropriate, and the waste ends up in improper places or directly burning like a tea.

And the fact is that if a manager charges to remove waste, he charges in advance an operation that he has to try to carry out later. If there are other priorities for that money, unforeseen events arise, new investments are made that do not bear fruit, or the “bargain” that I had set up to earn a good margin is simply ended, the waste is left unmanaged and accumulates hopelessly until it ends up disappearing in a column of smoke that is lost on the horizon.

You can read the original article at Environmental Quality.