The more waste we produce, the greater the quantities of waste for elimination or dumping.

Major achievements have been made in the last decade with respect to the awareness of the different environmental agents and to the provision of infrastructures for the treatment and elimination of waste. The EU and its member countries have promoted a series of strategies for waste management based on the four Rs: Reduction of waste production, Reuse, Recycling and Recovery, in this order of priority.

This combined with government and community commitment to the reduction of the volume of emissions, is promoting the employment of more efficient and cleaner technologies, and encouraging the use of renewable energies.

In this context, the energy exploitation of waste is becoming more and more relevant, providing a significant opportunity to save primary energy and, consequently, to reduce energy dependence. The search for a flexible treatment process with respect to the type of waste to be treated, permitting efficient valuation of waste, eliminating harmful gas emissions, and minimising or even eliminating the need for dumps, leads us to emerging technologies, specifically, plasma arc gasification and vitrification.

In the evolution of sustainable waste management, - from dumps, to incineration, biomethanisation, classification and recycling, to the current emerging technologies - ACCIONA has been a leader in the application and development of state of the art technologies, in compliance with the strictest environmental regulations.

Examples of commitment to the environment and technological leadership include:

• Abajas Dump: the first MSW dump in Spain built in accordance with EU directives.
• SOGAMA: Design and construction of this installation, the largest incinerator in Spain.
• La Rioja ecopark: Installation for the classification, recycling and valorisation by means of biomethanisation of urban waste, reducing waste destined to final treatments by 33% (initially dumps), 22% is recovered (material recycling plants) and 45% (organic material) is given value through the generation of electrical energy and compost for agricultural applications.
• Botarell Ecopark: treatment of solid waste from the district of Baix Camp (Tarragona), with an estimated 87,000 tonnes/year.  The plant has a pre-treatment area with the latest optic separation technology, a biomethanisation plant using kompogas technology and a composting/aerobic maturing plant.
• Plasma Arc Gasification and Vitrification:  ACCIONA, in co-operation with technological partners, promotes the use of this technology, both for the large scale treatment of urban or industrial waste, and for the elimination of domestic waste on a smaller scale.
• NFU-TOC project: The main objective of this project is to develop and demonstrate the advantages of the use of shredded tyre rubber (NFU) in different applications in civil engineering and/or building. Initially three applications have been selected for the study: weight reduction of ground structures, reinforcement of the same and reduction of thrusts for structures.