SMART GROUND PRESENTED IN MAGRAMA AND IGME

On February 5 BIOAZUL presented the project SMART GROUND in the MAGRAMA  (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment) and the IGME (Spanish Geological and Mining Institute of Spain). The first meeting was attended by several members of the General Department of Waste including highlighted the presence of the Deputy Dña. Mª José Delgado, D. Antonio Callaba of Roa and Antonio Cabrera Mariani. In the meeting with the IGME were present D. Lucas Vadillo, Ms.. Virginia Rodriguez and Javier Fernandez Area Sustainability Energy and Mining Resources.

The SMART GROUND project, which BIOAZUL participates as a partner, addresses a challenge posed already in the 70s: the recovery of waste accumulated in landfills. Specifically, it is proposed to promote the extraction and reuse of secondary raw materials from waste accumulated in landfills through its profitable marketing, which is particularly relevant in the current context of uncertainty about the future supply of EU metals and critical raw materials.

The main objectives of SMART GROUND are to improve the availability and accessibility of data and information on secondary raw materials (those materials obtained from waste) both urban landfills and slag heaps and mining dams and promote the creation of European networks to encourage the establishment of cooperation and synergies among stakeholders in the value chain of the MPS. For it is carried out a series of activities to integrate into a single database of all EU data from existing sources and new obtained during the characterization of landfill pilots selected throughout the project.

One of the main obstacles to gather the information that will feed the database on the characteristics of landfills and secondary raw materials that house, is that this information is scattered, it is difficult to access or does not exist .

At meetings held with the MAGRAMA and the IGME, representatives of both agencies tried SMART GROUND of great interest and decided to actively collaborate with the project. This will help to overcome the main obstacle and facilitate access to available information. Whether, as in the case of IGME, directly providing the necessary data; or as the MAGRAMA, offering their support to facilitate access to information being requested to the autonomous communities, as they have been transferred responsibility for waste management; or also providing information on how the management of municipal landfills and dumps and mining dams in Spain works.

In the project is funded by the European Commission under the Horizonte2020 program, 14 partners representing research centers, Engineering and Consulting, the administration and municipal waste management companies involved which belong to 5 European countries: Italy, Hungary, Finland, United Kingdom and Spain, and work coordinated by ENCO S.L. (Italy).