Canary Islands Face Economic Shutdown Amid Hazardous Waste Management Crisis
Canary Islands businesses are facing a potential economic standstill as a lack of local hazardous waste treatment facilities and the closure of mainland processing plants create a critical regulatory crisis.
Hazardous waste management in the Canary Islands is nearing a breaking point, threatening to bring key parts of the regional economy to a standstill. The Regional Confederation of Metal and New Technologies Enterprises (CREM)—which includes Femete and Femepa—warns that a lack of local treatment facilities has left over a thousand businesses unable to meet environmental regulations, creating a state of legal uncertainty.
The crisis stems from the gradual closure of mainland processing plants, particularly in Andalusia, which have traditionally handled the archipelago’s industrial waste. Relying on these external facilities is no longer sustainable due to rising shipping costs and a lack of local alternatives. This is especially difficult for the smaller islands, where the absence of authorized waste managers has left workshops, food producers, construction firms, and the hotel industry at a dead end.
The situation reached a critical stage on April 1, the deadline for the legal disposal of asbestos. Due to the technical challenges and lack of facilities, construction and renovation projects now face a potential administrative shutdown. The severity of the issue is clear: the volume of asbestos waste has quadrupled over the last two years, exposing a long-standing failure in regional planning.
Business representatives, including Juan Antonio Jiménez and Patricia Jiménez, have called the current situation unmanageable. The employers' association is urging the Canary Islands Government to intervene by taking two key steps: granting a temporary exemption that acknowledges the islands' status as an outermost region to allow for more flexibility, and committing to the construction of local treatment plants.
Industry leaders, such as David González and Yurena Rodríguez, argue that this push for local waste management is essential. They contend that the current burden on Canarian businesses is the result of poor public planning and that the only way to protect the environment and the economy is to process waste locally, ending the reliance on costly and unreliable external logistics.