The president of the Consell de Ibiza, Vicent Marí, has assumed that the transfer of the waste fraction of waste to Mallorca for incineration in Son Reus, which will start with a pilot plan in early 2026, will be extended“at least” for more than ten years, given the exhaustion of the useful life of the landfill of Ca na Putxa.
Marí has justified this deadline by the administrative and technical complexity of any alternative infrastructure in Ibiza: an own incinerator, if this model is chosen, would require years of studies, procedures and construction, said the island president in an interview with Radio Ibiza.
Pilot plan: January-February and $10 million
The Consell plans to activate the pilot plan between January and February 2026 and estimates its cost at around 10 million euros, an expense that the regional regulations and island planning have been framed as a test phase before full implementation.
At the same time, port operations are still an unresolved issue: the Balearic Islands Port Authority is evaluating whether the trucks with waste will disembark at the port of Palma or Alcúdia, a key aspect for sizing routes, times and costs in Mallorca.
“Very long term”: why he talks about a decade.
Marí has been explicit about the timetable: if Ibiza opted for its own plant, “this type of infrastructure requires studies and analysis processes that take several years” and would be a reality “in the very long term”, compared to the path of other essential works. The island president has pointed out that the result of the pilot plan -costs, incidents and environmental effects- will weigh in the final decision on the waste management model of the island.
The Consell had already anticipated that the final decision will be taken in the revision of the Master Plan, once the pilot plan has been evaluated “on the ground”, and this approach -by design- prolongs any change of model.
Recycle to pay less
At the same time, the island president has placed recycling at the center of the strategy: “The priority must be to reduce production at source” to “lighten both the logistical and economic cost” of transport, a message that connects directly with the bill that will end up being borne by administrations and taxpayers.
Ibiza currently recycles 42% of the waste it generates and Marí maintains that this percentage should grow “substantially”, although he claims that the island is among those that recycle the most in the archipelago.
It is worth remembering that the Mayors’ Council has agreed to promote a “shock plan” of awareness and measures to improve separation, financed with funds from the eco-tax, and which will include bonuses in the garbage bill for those who generate less waste.
The political reasoning behind this package is twofold: to reduce tons to be transported and, in parallel, to avoid oversizing a hypothetical incinerator, so as not to build today a facility designed for a volume that the Consell itself says it wants to cut tomorrow.
Ca na Putxa at the limit: enlargement as an unavoidable condition
Even before choosing a model, the Consell itself has assumed in previous documentation and analysis that Ca na Putxa needs an urgent expansion “in all cases”, because both the transfer to Mallorca and an own plant require time, and the landfill must continue to operate as a safety net in case of contingencies.
