Spanish firm ordered to restore polluted marshland

James Bryce
Nov 7 · 2 min read

Fertiberia must pay €66 million to clean up radioactive waste dumped over several decades in the río Tinto estuary

jwvein / Pixabay

One of Europe’s biggest fertiliser producers must remove toxic waste from an area of marshland, following a ruling by a Spanish court.
The radioactive sludge has been accumulating in the estuary of the río Tinto in Huelva for several decades, after being dumped there by Fertiberia.
The company has one month to pay €66 million (£57 million) for the environmental regeneration of the ecosystem, having failed to comply with a previous order to carry out the work.
Since the area became heavily industrialised in the 1960s, millions of tonnes of toxic waste has been allowed to accumulate on what is a mixture of protected marshes and 1,200 hectares of public land.
Fertiberia, which operates throughout Spain, France, Portugal and Algeria, was originally ordered to stop dumping waste in 2007.
The court later issued a decree ordering the company to pay €22 million (£19 million) for the restoration work, a figure that was later tripled.
The dumping site is situated on the edge of the city and consists of stacks of radioactive phosphogypsum, a byproduct created when extracting phosphorus for use in fertiliser.
The waste starts off watery before forming into a thick crust containing concentrated levels of uranium, thorium and radium.
Juan Carlos del Olmo, general secretary of WWF España, which has campaigned against the site for almost 20 years said:
“Until now, Fertiberia has managed to avoid its responsibility, but with this court ruling we hope that the company will comply with the ruling and finally restore the marshland that it contaminated.”

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Writing about #environmental issues in #Spain

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