An investment of 20.9 million euros to modernize the Miramundo Environmental Complex in Medina Sidonia

Medina Sidonia, March 12, 2024.

Valoriza Servicios Medioambientales, through its participation in Biorreciclaje de Cádiz, will invest 20.9 million euros in the modernization of the Miramundo Environmental Complex. Located in the Cadiz town of Medina Sidonia, it serves more than thirty municipalities belonging to the Consortium for Urban Waste Management in the province of Cadiz.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Valoriza's CEO, Javier San Millán, accompanied by the president of the Provincial Council of Cádiz, Almudena Martínez, and the deputy president of the consortium, Agustín Muñoz.

With this new investment, three projects will be executed: The automation of the facilities, the construction of a new independent line for the treatment of organic waste and the improvement of the glass recovery process.

The automation of the waste plant will involve the introduction of a new technology in the waste treatment process, designed to maximize the recovery of recyclable materials. To this end, a series of new equipment will be installed: 2 shredders, 2 ballistic separators to generate rolling and planar flow, 4 optical separators for different types of plastics (PET, HDPE, PP and BRICKS), inductive and magnetic separators, quality control cabin, multiproduct press, metal press and reject press.

The construction of the new organic fraction treatment line will enable the processing of some 20,000 tons of waste per year. The equipment will have three different areas. In the pre-treatment and selection area, waste will be sorted, concentrating the organic fraction and eliminating as much as possible of unwanted waste such as plastics, bags and metals. In the biological treatment area there will be a composting system with aerated trenches under tarpaulin, which allows air to escape but retains the compounds that produce odors. This semi-permeable feature allows condensate to escape and prevents rainwater from entering. Finally, there will be a compost refining area.

The modernization of the Miramundo plant will be completed with the construction of a glass recovery line in the composting refining phase. This infrastructure will increase the current recovery percentages of the complex to 3,595 tons per year, reduce the material currently destined for landfill and thus promote the circular economy. On the other hand, it will remove ferrous metal waste from the flow by means of a magnetic separator that will be placed before the material passes through a bar screen and the final cascade of optics.

The Miramundo Environmental Complex was built in 1999, with an investment of more than 30 million euros. Since then, there have been several technological and regulatory changes that have adapted this facility to the needs of the municipalities it serves.

At present, it has an urban waste treatment plant and landfill, with 3 closed cells, 1 active cell and land acquired for a fifth cell. In 2023, 275,000 tons of residual waste (the gray container), 30,550 tons of bulky waste (wood, furniture, appliances, scrap metal, etc.) and 2,780 tons of organic waste were received at the facilities.