In Sedaví, Utiel, Paiporta, Catarroja and Aldaia, the municipalities most affected by DANA, the priority is to drain the mud that is still in some streets and clean the houses devastated by the water. “All efforts are being made so that the neighbors can recover normality,” repeats Ricardo Gabaldón, mayor of Utiel, about the reconstruction of his town. The tasks include removing tons of waste – furniture, belongings, appliances, clothing – accumulated in almost every corner. And also the thousands of cars damaged in the catastrophe.
The Insurance Compensation Consortium, the public company that pays for damages caused by extreme natural phenomena, received 66,000 requests for vehicles that have suffered damage in just eight days, as reported this Thursday by its director, José Antonio Fernández.
The entity estimates that there are still many files to be opened. The figure could be around 100,000 units, according to the official projection. From the preliminary evaluation of the experts in the field, it is clear that the majority of cases will be processed as a total loss – when the repair cost exceeds between 75% and 100% the market value -, so a very high percentage of the final number will end up in scrap yards.
A logistical challenge
For now, the Generalitat has enabled some facilities to collect this enormous number of cars, such as the Logistics Activity Zone (ZAL) of the Port of Valencia or the Ricardo Tormo Circuit of Cheste. The first to arrive at these two venues have been those who have recovered from the roads, according to the first report from the regional Executive.
But the cars that the cranes load daily in the affected cities are accumulating, for the moment, in lots and open fields temporarily enabled by the town councils while waiting for a transfer schedule to be drawn up. “These thousands of cars should go to the authorized treatment centers, the scrapyards enabled by the DGT. The problem is that it is impossible for the current management fabric to be able to take on this sudden amount,” explains Fernando Follos, a consultant for waste management companies, about the final destination of the automobiles.
In 2023, these centers managed a total of 533,597 vehicles. “We are talking about approximately a fifth of the annual management. The logistical challenge is enormous,” adds this specialist.
For Carlos Arribas, head of the waste area at Ecologistas en Acción, damaged cars represent “the greatest environmental risk” of the thousands of tons of waste that the floods will leave behind.
In the Authorized Treatment Centers, he explains, the first operation performed is the decontamination, extraction and storage of all fluids and dangerous elements of the vehicles: fuel, engine oil, antifreeze fluid, radiator coolant, brake fluids. and clutch, among other substances.
The warehouses have waterproof flooring and a spill collection system. Once the task is completed, the liquids are placed in containers and delivered to hazardous waste managers for proper environmental management.
It is very important that all cars are taken to authorized centers. If not, they end up in landfills or unauthorized scrap yards, or remain abandoned for a long time in open fields or lots and the environmental impact can be significant.
Carlos Arribas
— Waste Manager at Ecologistas en Acción
“It is very important that all cars are taken to authorized treatment centers so that all these dangerous remains can be collected and their materials recovered. If this is not the case and they end up in landfills or unauthorized scrap yards, or remain abandoned for a long time in open fields or lots, the environmental impact can be significant,” warns Arribas.
The contamination of groundwater is one of the greatest dangers in a scenario of “system saturation,” says Arribas. “There are many cars. Hence the magnitude of the problem. The risk is that all this enormous amount of dangerous fluids, oils and fuels, filter through the soil and end up contaminating groundwater,” details the spokesperson for Ecologistas en Acción.
An example: combustion engines take between four and six liters of oil. The 100,000 damaged cars would be equivalent to the management of between 400,000 and 600,000 liters of this polluting liquid. “That is why it is so important that administrations ensure that the elimination is not done illegally,” he insists.
His organization confirmed oil and fuel stains in the Albufera from cars that were dragged into the wetland: “This spill has been impossible to avoid. For this reason, I repeat, it is necessary that hazardous waste from damaged cars be separated and treated in authorized centers.”
Broken traceability
This week, the Generalitat has authorized the transfer of sludge and bulky waste to several quarries in the province of Valencia. The Department of Environment, Infrastructure and Territory has recognized that authorized landfills and deposits do not have the capacity to absorb all the materials that accumulate on the streets of the municipalities affected by the floods.
In addition, the General Directorate of Quality and Environmental Education has authorized non-hazardous waste landfills throughout the community to receive trucks without the need for prior treatment, without capacity restrictions and with tax exemption.
“It is always associated with an ecological disaster of gigantic proportions.” “The generation of debris, vehicles and voluminous remains is brutal. And the reality is that we do not have the means to manage it”
Fernando Follos
— Consultant for waste management companies
Regarding these measures, Follos clarifies, first of all, that a catastrophe like the one Valencia has suffered “is always associated with an ecological disaster of gigantic proportions.” “The generation of debris, vehicles and voluminous remains is brutal. And the reality is that we do not have the means to manage it.”
DANA will no longer be a topic on the political agenda when “the hidden environmental problem of this type of management” comes to light. “We will have a serious problem when the quarries and landfills created to bury all this waste, which will not be properly enabled or isolated, begin to generate leachate, infiltrate the soil and affect groundwater and surface water. It will be too late to act,” he concludes.
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