Municipal waste treatment

Urbaser covers the entire value chain, from the design, engineering and implementation of the treatment service to the construction, financing and management of plants and facilities. Its know-how, which spans over more than 20 years, makes it one of the world’s leading experts in waste management processes for optimum recovery.

Urbaser manages, recovers and reclaims municipal waste in different Spanish cities. It also has a significant presence in France, with several plants operating in cities like Marseilles and Paris.

In 2021 the company managed 75 treatment plants.

In these plants, the integration of the circular economy in the different processes is materialized with the ultimate goal of sending as little as possible to landfill. The processes of the so-called “waste hierarchy” are carried out:

1. Recovery for recycling indistinctly for all waste.
2. Material valorization of the biodegradable fraction: Waste transformation.
3. Energy recovery.

Some examples of these treatment plants are the new 2021 awards such as the Tenerife plant, the Maldives valorization plant or the organic valorization plant in Canopia (France).

In February 2015, URBASER inaugurated the Alfonso Maíllo Waste Technology Innovation Centre (CIAM) in Zaragoza, the company’s flagship in the field of innovation, which has since become a world reference in the development of new technologies and processes for the recycling and recovery of municipal and industrial waste. With a total investment of six million euros, the Centre was named Alfonso Maíllo (1940-2013) as a special recognition of the professional career of one of the world’s leading experts in waste management and treatment. Mr. Alfonso Maíllo had been linked to Urbaser since its creation, and worked for over 30 years in the municipal waste sector.