Chinchilla asbestos plant moves to ordinary environmental evaluation

The General Directorate of Environmental Quality of the Department of Sustainable Development of Castilla-La Mancha has resolved to subject the project for a hazardous asbestos waste management facility through temporary storage and repacking, planned by the company Integral de Amiantos Albacete, SLL in the municipality of Chinchilla de Montearagón (Albacete), to an ordinary environmental impact assessment. The decision, adopted via resolution on August 17, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of Castilla-La Mancha on August 27, 2026, with reference 2026/6255 and file S478/2026/DG/00126.

The environmental body considers that the existence of significant effects on human health cannot be ruled out with the degree of certainty required in the simplified procedure; therefore, the project must be processed through the ordinary route provided for in Law 2/2020, of February 7, on Environmental Assessment of Castilla-La Mancha.

A project in the Camporroso Industrial Estate

The activity will be carried out in an industrial warehouse with a built area of 375 m², located at Calle Ciudad Real number 5, warehouse 14, of the Camporroso Industrial Estate. It will consist of the temporary storage of asbestos waste, mainly fiber-cement sheets, received encapsulated and palletized, as well as the occasional repacking of those whose packaging does not meet the acceptance conditions of the final manager or has been damaged during transport.

The facility will have a maximum simultaneous storage capacity of 49 tons of waste, with an annual treatment capacity of 900 tons in storage operations and 50 tons in repacking operations. The company has a staff of 11 workers, mainly dedicated to asbestos removal work.

The unfavorable report from the City Council

The City Council of Chinchilla de Montearagón issued an unfavorable report, considering that the warehouse is located in a consolidated industrial area, with a continuous presence of workers in the surrounding industries and close to urban land for residential use. The council warns that storage and repacking operations involve additional handling of the waste that could increase the risk of population exposure in the event of accidental fiber release, and points to the existence of an alternative location outside of urban industrial and residential land.

Among the bodies consulted during the processing, which began on March 5, 2026, before the General Directorate of Circular Economy and 2030 Agenda, are:

• Júcar Hydrographic Confederation
• City Council of Chinchilla de Montearagón
• Ecologistas en Acción of La Manchuela and Albacete
• WWF/Adena and Albacete Ornithological Society
• Provincial Delegations of Sustainable Development, Health, Education, and Citizen Protection in Albacete

Planned security measures

The environmental document incorporates measures aimed at minimizing risk during the handling of waste, which will be received in approved bags and handled avoiding operations that could cause their rupture or the release of fibers. The facility will have a Decostar30 decontamination cabin, an Amesa AM-AIR/1000H air depressor, a 3,000 kg scale, and a 50 m² repacking area, and cleaning will be carried out via vacuuming with HEPA filters or by wet methods.

Despite these measures, the nature of the managed waste, the location of the project, and the existence of an alternative site have led the environmental body to deepen the analysis through an ordinary evaluation, which will assess location alternatives in greater detail and determine the necessary preventive, corrective, and monitoring measures. The resolution, signed by the Director General of Environmental Quality, Tomás Villarrubia Lázaro, in Toledo on August 17, 2026, is not subject to administrative appeal, without prejudice to any appeals that may proceed against the future project authorization act.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, no. August 27, 2026, section III (official reference: 2026/6255).