The president of the Asturian Government, the socialist Adrián Barbón, has urged the different parliamentary groups this Thursday to show "bravery" and face the debate on the destination of the recovered solid fuel (CSR) that will be generated in the residual fraction plant of Cogersa, known as "plantona".
Barbón was responding in the plenary session of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias to a question from the secretary general of Foro Asturias, Adrián Pumares, regarding waste management and the role of the Consortium for the Management of Solid Waste of Asturias (Cogersa).
In his speech, the head of the regional Executive reproached Pumares for not having detailed what his alternative would be. "Short-sighted debates are not valid on this matter," he stressed, calling for a fundamental discussion on the waste treatment model.
"Cogersa is not a problem, it is an opportunity," defended the socialist leader, who trusts that the "plantona" can become operational in the autumn. From that moment on, he recalled, there will be a two-year period of CSR storage, which, in his opinion, leaves sufficient room for the Chamber to agree on what use to give to that fuel.
The president also advocated for intensifying collaboration with the municipalities to increase recycling rates and downplayed the significance of any disagreements that may arise within the coalition government between PSOE and Convocatoria-IU regarding this issue or others related to waste management.
From the opposition, Pumares replied that "Cogersa is not the problem, you are the problem," lashing out at the management of the consortium by the regional Executive, which he accused of being a government that "does not know very well what can be done with that CSR".
The Foro deputy questioned the Principality's forecasts on the commercial outlet for the recovered solid fuel, recalling that the regional Executive had already tried, without success, to award that material to different companies.
He also expressed his concern about the situation of the Serín regional landfill and the lack of an official long-term strategy for waste management, after warning that this waste is currently being sent "to the landfill, which is no longer a landfill, but a macro-landfill that is already full".
On the economic level, Pumares related the internal disorder of the consortium with a direct increase in the rates paid by citizens, and lamented that the current structure "leads to having to annul contracts for alleged rigging, leads to having to renounce European funds, leads to not investing in proprietary technologies, and leads to citizens having to pay more on the garbage bill".
To conclude, the parliamentarian insisted on the material incidents suffered by Cogersa's facilities during the legislature and on the lack of adequate insurance coverage after the plant fire, recalling that "the plant burned down, it burned down without having fire damage insurance".