The Council of Ibiza rectifies and now says it will not send waste to Mallorca in bulk

PalmaOne week after ARA Balears revealed that the Consell de Mallorca has lowered the environmental requirement for part of the transfer of waste from Ibiza to be carried out in bulk, the institution from Ibiza has rectified. After the residents of Son Sardina and La Garriga protested about how the import would be carried out and the GOB filed a legal challenge, the Consell d'Eivissa now says it will not send any type of waste in bulk. Despite declaring last December that it did not have the technical capacity to carry out all transport with shrink-wrapped bales, it now assures that it has the necessary machinery.

In a statement, the Consell d'Eivissa "categorically denies that bulk waste will be transported". "The Ca na Putxa Environmental Area has all the necessary machinery for plastic film packaging of waste bales, as well as for treatment against odors and insects, which is not applied to any other Balearic Island," it assures in a press release. "All these procedures have been tested and are 100% operational for use from the first transfer," it insists. In fact, the Consell d'Eivissa has already put out to tender the service and is awaiting the one in Mallorca to sign the agreement to be able to start the transfer of waste.

As explained by ARA Balears, the agreement between the Consell de Mallorca and the Consell d'Eivissa pending signature establishes that the waste "must be packaged in bales at the facilities of the insularized public waste management service owned by the Consell d'Eivissa, compacted with straps and sufficiently shrink-wrapped to guarantee the consistency of the bales". However, in the following point, it adds that while the pilot test is being carried out (expected to last two years), part of this waste "may be transported in bulk, once stabilized, under appropriate conditions to avoid dispersion and possible inconvenience during transport", thus establishing a preference for "hermetic covering systems during bulk transport". When consulted on the matter, the Consell d'Eivissa specified that the transfer would not be made "generally" in bulk, but that it could be done within the framework of the pilot plan. But this week it has declared that, finally, no type of waste will be sent in bulk.

Eivissa declared a few months ago that it did not have the technical means

According to the documentation of the file, the Consell d’Eivissa formally declared the technical impossibility of complying with the total baling of waste in a document with an entry registration date at the Consell de Mallorca of December 10, 2025. Eivissa reported that its facilities were enabled to bale the pressed waste. However, it stated that it did not have the capacity to do so with all the bulk waste, which represents 58% of the waste currently in the landfill, according to the report from the consultant BBAsesores attached to the file. "To be able to adapt the bulk waste in the proposed manner, a study must be carried out to assess the technical viability of baling this waste and the implementation of logistics at the treatment facilities on the island of Eivissa," argued the Consell d'Eivissa in that declaration: "In the event that it is technically viable, to comply with this requirement, it would first be necessary to draw up a technical implementation project and carry out the necessary modifications to the facilities." Therefore, it continued, "the shipment of pressed and baled bulk waste in shrink-wrapped bales is not technically viable at this time."

This statement of "technical difficulties" by Eivissa was the trigger for the Consell de Mallorca to request clarification from the consultant BBAsesores, which finally allowed for the flexibility of environmental criteria in the final agreement. Half a year later, the institution says in a statement that it is indeed viable, although it has not clarified whether this has been evaluated in a new study or if, as a consequence, the agreement has been modified.