Support of the Basque Government
Our involvement with various landfill projects in the Basque Country had not gone unnoticed by the Basque government and requested Afvalzorg to draw up a Technical landfill gas guidance document (‘Documento Guía sobre la reducción de las emisiones de gases de vertedero’) to comply with EU directives. With the manual, landfill owners can determine which best available technologies (BAT) and measures they can implement to reduce landfill gas emissions at their landfill as much as possible.
Methane Emission Inventory
As a follow-up of the landfill gas manual, the Basque Government requested Afvalzorg to optimise the methane emission inventory in the Basque Country as part of the Basque Climate Change Strategy; KLIMA 2050. For this inventory the Afvalzorg Multiphase landfill gas model was used to calculate landfill gas generation, recovery, oxidation and emissions at all individual Basque landfills. The inventory of all individual landfills provides the Basque Country site specific details which allows them to establish priorities in improvement of emission management at the individual landfills in the future.
Assistance Zaldibar landfill disaster
In February 2020 Afvalzorg successfully provided assistance to the Basque Government in extinguishing a landfill fire at the landfill in Zaldibar, Spain and advising on stabilising the landfill, including landfill gas and leachate emission control. At the site 1.5 million tons of waste avalanched down the hill during a serious landfill accident at which two people died. The waste caught fire, seriously affecting the safety of rescue workers and people in the vicinity of the landfill site. In close collaboration with the Basque government and local fire fighters, the fire was extinguished within a short period of time allowing for the rescue work to continue and also work towards final closure of the landfill.