Traditionally, waste management in the southern regions of Castellón and north of Valencia has depended heavily on external treatment services. This made waste management, particularly with higher volumes of urban waste, prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, the need to transport a significant volume of waste to other regions began to stress their ability to continue accepting the waste stream.
To correct these imbalances and give the southern Castellón area greater self-sufficiency in its waste management, planners approved an expansion of an existing non-hazardous waste landfill and the construction of a waste treatment plant.
The Algímia de Alfara project was designed with a special goal to eliminate the urban waste problem. To achieve this, multiple geosynthetics were utilized to ensure strict compliance with regulations and provide a top-tier system for environmental protection.
MANAGING URBAN WASTE IN ALGIMIA DE ALFARA
Maccaferri supplied many of the geosynthetics used in the much-needed landfill expansion. These solutions represented the great range of geosynthetics being used internationally in waste management infrastructures, including geomembranes for base and slope barriers, geosynthetic clay liners as additional containment in the lining system, drainage geocomposites to facilitate proper drainage of the landfill, and a provisional cover.
The geosynthetics used:
- 22,000 m2 of polyethylene membrane [MacLine SDH]
- 22,000 m2 of bentonite [MacLine GCL W20]
- 22,000 m2 of drainage geocomposite [MacDrain W 1041]
- 4,000 m2 of provisional cover [MacLine W3.250]
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The geosynthetic installation work was carried out over a five-month period by BARRANCALES S.L. When the full expansion was finished, the landfill had increased its capacity to 1,425,000 m3. Meanwhile, the new waste treatment plant was built to treat up to 120,000 tons of waste per year.
This dual strategy—modernized landfilling plus waste treatment—has been so successful in handling the urban waste stream that the plant, when it is operating at full capacity, is able to provide service to a region of Valencia that has required outside support. In this way, the Algímia de Alfara site has not only made its area far more self-sufficient, it has created an additional economic stream in waste management.
Reciclados Palancia Belcaire, a recycling company, oversees the site’s operation, as part of a 20-year concession.
Learn more about Maccaferri’s engineering services, global operations, and geosynthetics for waste management and other applications at www.maccafeeri.com.
