The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Development, of the Junta de Andalucía, led by CarmenCrespo from Almeria, has been developing since last year 2017 an ambitious Circular Economy Project within the “Comprehensive Waste Plan of Andalusia. Towards a Circular Economy in the 2030 Horizon '(PIRec 2030) ”, which responds to the lines established by the European Union in terms of climate change. This project, which has a boost of 8.7 million euros from the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) 2014-2020, takes place in the municipalities of the Mancomunidad dela Sierra de Cádiz.
The 19 municipalities that make up the Mancomunidad de la Sierra de Cádiz have a population of 120,000 inhabitants distributed in small towns of between 500 and 30,000 inhabitants and over an area of 2,000 km2, a large part within the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park. Due to its geographical, population, economic and social characteristics, added to its high ecological value, it has made it necessary to implement a highly efficient municipal waste management system and applying the best available segregation, collection, transport and treatment techniques. To do this, among other actions, the Ministry, through its General Directorate for Environmental Quality and Climate Change, has launched an efficient bio-waste management model based on the decentralization of its treatment through the strategic distribution of five mini BIG disposal plants. HANNA, thus covering the entire territory of the Sierra de Cádiz Commonwealth. With this, it is possible to avoid unnecessary transfers of the largest fraction contained in the waste, in addition to the one with the greatest weight. Its purpose is to bring the treatment closer to the places of production.
The project includes the installation of a micro-plant in each of the municipalities of Algodonales, Olvera, Algar, Parado del Rey and Grazalema, with a first installation phase in Algodonales and Olvera, carried out during the last months of July and August, a second in Algar scheduled for October and a third in Prado del Rey and Grazalema before the end of the year.
This treatment model is very oriented to dispersed territorial models such as that of the Sierra de Cádiz, in which collection trucks have to travel long distances, sometimes along difficult-to-traffic roads, to collect small amounts of bio-waste on a daily basis.
The BIG HANNA technology, of Swedish origin and distributed in Spain by BERCA BRAND, has been developed since 1991 and currently has more than 1,000 installations around the world and allows the most advanced technology to be applied to something as natural as bio-waste composting. The biological process takes place inside the machine in a continuous and controlled way, without the least external interaction, free of odors, insects, birds and other inconveniences that traditional systems entail. This process can take between 6 and 10 weeks, ensuring that the compost can be used safely, free of odors and pathogens. In this time, organic waste is reduced to 90% of its volume.
BIGHANNA composting machines work almost completely autonomously with hardly any need for personnel to be involved. The remote control of the machines allows remote access to the touch screen from a control center or even from a smartphone or tablet.
The touch screen shows us the record of temperatures, CO2 and programming settings, inputs and outputs when recorded, as well as alerts and energy consumption. The log files can be downloaded to a USB stick, memory card or accessed remotely via the internet.
Thanks to this remote control and the automation of the process, the low consumption and the shortage of personnel in the operations, the operating costs of this installation are very low.
At a time when the application of circular economy strategies is so booming and in view of the need to achieve European objectives, BERCA BRAND AND BIG HANNA bring a true change of model in line with these objectives.