José Ignacio Asensio, Chairman of the Waste Treatment Consortium of Guipúzcoa (GHK) and Province Councillor delegate for Environmental Affairs, and Carmelo Aguas, Head of the North Region of FCC Medio Ambiente (the Spanish brand for FCC Environment), have signed the contract for the second phase of the Environmental Complex of Guipúzcoa (CMG-2), awarded to a temporary joint venture led by FCC Medio Ambiente. This contract is proof of FCC's commitment to its operations in the province of Guipúzcoa.

This contract involves the construction, commissioning and operation of the CMG-2 over a 20-year period, with a total investment of €32.2 million and a portfolio with a net worth of €92 million.

The new facility will have two types of plants: a biomethanisation plant and a slag recycling plant for the Incineration Bottom Ashes (IBA) received from the recycling plant in phase 1 (CMG-1). The works are expected to start in October and the installation is expected to be commissioned by the summer of 2019.

The biomethanisation plant will treat the bio-waste fraction collected from the Historical Region of Guipúzcoa, sorted at each home, , with a capacity for up to 50,000 t/year, and a possible expansion of an additional 20,000 t/year. This plant performs a fully automated mechanical pre-treatment, in which materials are recovered and waste is removed, with a dry anaerobic digestion process that allows the full hygienisation of the bio-waste and the generation of biogas for the production of electricity.

With this treatment process, expected standard electricity generation will exceed 15 million kWh/year, corresponding to the annual electricity required for more than 1,300 households. This energy will be used for self-consumption in the company's facilities and surplus energy will be injected into the grid of the electric utility.

The digested materials generated at the facility will be recycled at an adjoining facility with vermi-composting procedures to manufacture compost.

The IBA treatment and maturing plant will have a capacity for 52,000 t/year and will treat the wet bottom ashes received from CMG-1. The process will be based on a fully automated mechanical treatment, in which the materials are classified with sorting sieves and recycled, and later on is matured. Matured materials will meet the specifications set forth in the corresponding laws for their use as construction aggregates, to manufacture concrete and raw materials in cement production plants.

The commissioning of these facilities will also have a direct impact on the selective collection and recycling percentages, thanks to the recovery of materials at the mechanical-biological treatment plant and to the manufacturing of recycled aggregates at the bottom ashes treatment plant described in the project. The new infrastructures will allow the Province to keep the same treatment fees, and improve the waste recycling and reusage indices by seven to eight points in Guipúzcoa, which will reach 60%, in line with the figures of the leading countries in Europe and clearly exceeding the 50% objective set forth for Europe by 2020.

The CMG-2 will be located in the Industrial Estate of Eskuzaitzeta, region of Zubieta, on a plot with a gross floor area of 31,988m². Its two plants (biomethanisation and IBA treatment), including the mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) and energy recycling (PVE) processes of the CMG-1, make up the basic waste treatment system designed for Guipúzcoa.