A novel initiative to counteract illegal dumping in rural areas of Valladolid Province (Spain).

In the whole territory of Castilla y León (Spain), there are currently more than 2000 waste dumps that will be restored through a novel programme in the period 2017-2019 with an investment of more than 10 M€. Castilla y León regional government is currently implementing this programme in the province of Valladolid for the environmental recovery of areas heavily degraded by the deposit of inert waste, which entails the restoration of illegal dumps in the province bigger than 1000 m2, a total of 133. The programme also includes the implementation of an alternative and legal system for the management of construction and demolition waste, amongst other waste streams. The sealing of landfills and tailings is encompassed within the actions that the regional government is developing in the field of integrated management of waste for their prevention, recovery, recycling and disposal in all the provinces of the community, framed within the line established in the 7th Environmental Action Programme of the European Union. The situation of illegal deposits must be corrected both through direct situations on the affected areas and through measures aimed at ensuring proper management of construction and demolition waste and pruning. This paper shows the first results obtained after the implementation of this regional initiative with the focus set on the description of the implemented waste management programme. The programme provided 2518 services in 2017 managing 6000 t of waste which, without the implementation of this programme, would probably have ended up in illegal dumps. These waste streams included debris (33%), discarded appliances (45%) and pruning (22%). The costs associated with the management of these streams were 25.53 €/t debris, 183.16 €/t appliances and 162.40 €/t pruning.