The municipal compost plant was included in a composting promotion project subsidised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
The Arnuero Town Hall was a pioneer in Cantabria in the implementation and promotion of composting as a future means to reduce organic waste that, at present, ends up in landfill, with the corresponding economic and environmental costs.
Thus, in 2015, it was proposed by MARE together with the Town Hall of Campoo de Enmedio to launch the first two composting projects in Cantabria integrated into “PIMA residuos”. In addition to this family composting project, the Town Hall processed a grant for its own project which, besides the family one, also included a municipal composting plant.
This municipal composting facility has been producing high-quality compost for more than a year, which is used by the municipal works team to improve soil quality in the town’s own parks and gardens.
A novel initiative was the incorporation into the composting cycle of algae waste from cleaning the Joyel marsh, which throughout 2018 and 2019 was obtained in large quantities due to the multiple cleanings carried out in the pond of Santa Olaja mill as part of the CONVIVE-LIFE project. It is particularly noteworthy in this regard that more than 60,000 kg of algae were moved to the municipal composting facility, with a significant reduction in transport costs and landfill fees, while also ensuring high-quality compost that is helping to improve soil quality in many landscaped spaces. In order to inform and raise awareness among the population, in some of the most visible areas, such as flower planters, an information sign has been installed, so that people understand that it is worth making the effort to compost in order to reduce the waste sent to landfill and the processing costs of that waste, while at the same time obtaining a valuable fertiliser for vegetable plots and gardens.
