Spanish town to lose illegal tire dump at last

ERJ staff report (BC)

Douglas, Isle of Man – The municipality of Sesena, near Madrid, Spain, has signed a deal with an unnamed company based in Senegal which will remove a 10 hectare illegal dump of an estimated 40,000-60,000 tonnes of tires outside the town, reports Sylvie Groult of PhysOrg.

The company will grind the tires on site and ship the crumb by truck to recycling centres, said Sesena mayor Carlos Velazquez.

The tires are likely to be turned into surfacing for roads, sports tracks and children's playgrounds. The site is due to be cleared within three years.

The unlicensed dump began in the 1990s as a temporary depot but has grown progressively. After it was declared illegal in 2003, the company that ran the dump was pursued through the courts, eventually abandoning the location. In 2010 a judge ruled that the tires were abandoned waste and that the local council was responsible for clearing them.

Apart from its visual impact, concerns about the dump include its flammability and the presence of disease-bearing mosquitos which may breed in stagnant puddles in the hollows of the tyres.

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