The south of Gran Canaria was the jewel in Spain's crown at the time when Luis Martínez was running the Urbaser company in the Canary Islands. But the funds arrived, first from China and then from Detroit, and everything was cut short by the hand of Fernando Abril Martorell, who managed the little that was left of the former ACS subsidiary under remote control, ending up losing what little was still profitable. Losing the third tourist municipality in Spain responds to an idea of looking for more profitable businesses, but a destination cannot allow itself to make management errors because the reputation of the economic capital of the Canary Islands is worth more than the badly given word goda.
Urbaser is owned by Tom Gores and has an office in Beverly Hills, California, a promenade lined with Canary Island palm trees. The owner of the NBA's Detroit Pistons has been looking for months to place Urbaser in another investment fund. This Wednesday, the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council decided to immediately terminate the contract with Urbaser, which had been operating provisionally since its expiration in 2019, courtesy of the governing group at that time who, aware of the need for balance, did not want to have the entire weight of the service in the hands of the Mexican company FCC Medio Ambiente.
The Councillor for Cleaning, Ruymán Cardoso (CC), has activated the legal lifeline after multiple requests for Urbaser to reinforce the service by renting trucks and other corrective measures, the problems persisted. The situation was further complicated by the destruction of 23 selective collection containers in just three months, as a result of six consecutive fires that affected the waste management system in a tourist destination where sustainability is the cornerstone of the business.
The first deputy mayor, Alejandro Marichal (CC), stressed the priority of addressing the needs of residents and preserving the image of the municipality. "The situation was unsustainable, so we have taken the decision to terminate the contract and take immediate measures while the new agreement is being formalised" said Marichal, underlining the commitment of the council to efficient waste management. With this action, the Council seeks to restore normality in the selective collection of waste and guarantee an adequate service that responds to citizen demands and the public health standards of the municipality.
In October 2024, the Island Governing Council of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Nueva Canarias and PSOE agreed to penalize Urbaser (Platinum Equity), the concessionaire of the management service of the network of clean points and transfer plants on the Island, with a fine of 20.158 euros, after finding that it had incurred in several breaches of the contract.
Thus, in the agreement reached at the request of the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Energy and Knowledge, coordinated by Raúl García Brink, the island body specifies these breaches, on the one hand, in that the company has not submitted the monthly activity reports on time, since, as of October 4, 2024, the last one it submitted corresponds to last April 2024.
The Cabildo de Gran Canaria argued that, at this time, it does not have the management tools it offered operational in all its facilities and has not implemented the register of activities for reuse offered, in addition to not having placed the totems and access barriers at the clean points of El Batán and El Sebadal, and has not immediately covered staff absences due to holidays, sick leave or any other circumstance, at the clean point of La Aldea and at the transfer plant of Santa María de Guía.
