The presence of tert-butanol in the leachate of the Gran Canaria South Ecopark, managed by a subsidiary of Pérez Moreno and Cespa, has become a critical environmental and operational risk for the facility. This volatile organic compound (VOC), which does not readily degrade in water, poses a potential contamination threat to the underlying soils and aquifers in the event of any incident or overflow in the leachate ponds. These ponds contain highly polluting liquids generated by the decomposition of organic waste mixed with rainwater.
According to technical reports accessed by Maspalomas24H, the appearance of this contaminant—usually linked to the degradation of industrial byproducts, solvents, fuel additives, or plastics improperly deposited in landfill cells—was discovered as a result of groundwater tests submitted to the relevant authorities by the facility's owner on June 9, 2026. This finding has highlighted the need to provide environmental monitoring programs with sufficient flexibility to incorporate additional parameters not initially included in the sector-specific authorizations.
The environmental complex, classified under the industrial identification codes for large landfills and non-hazardous waste recovery and disposal facilities with a capacity exceeding fifty and seventy-five tons per day, is also undergoing a period of intense administrative activity to update its regulatory framework. On February 6, 2026, the center's management submitted a notification of non-substantial modification—processed under file number AAI-36-LP/001-2026—aimed at regularizing various actions carried out or planned at the facilities in the south of the island. Among the measures included are the construction of a new area for compost storage, the regularization of the leachate and biogas extraction wells drilled progressively between 2019 and 2025 to address historical drainage deficiencies, and the implementation of a wetting system in the soil stockpile area.
A new application was added to this file on June 5, 2026 (file AAI-36-LP/002-2026), requesting the adaptation of the Integrated Environmental Authorization (AAI) to the regional resolution extending the Canary Islands' designation as a Remote Zone for the disposal of certain animal by-products not intended for human consumption (ABP) in authorized landfills. Furthermore, the administrative process served to correct and adjust the classification using European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes applied to the fraction resulting from the shredding of plant waste and biowaste, formally assigning the appropriate heading for the biodegradable waste from mechanical treatment.
