The Cosmos cement plant was built in Córdoba in the 1930s. At the time it was far from the city, but as the city grew, residential neighborhoods were built around the cement plant. There are 300 potentially affected people that live in the surrounding area. There have been many protests from the neighbors who are demanding better filters to stop the ashes from the cement plant.

In 2005, the Cosmos cement plant requested permission from the Andalusian regional government to expand the capacity of its ovens and to undertake the ‘waste-to-energy’ valorization or ‘energy recovery’, which means to supplement the burning of their traditional fuel (usually coke petroleum) with waste. The environmental permission was granted on condition that some minor technical adjustments were made which caused an outrage of local organizations and citizens that have undertaken several actions and put a lot of pressure on the company. Due to this, as well as the opposition of the then mayor Rosa Aguilar, the company decided to temporarily suspend burning of the waste. An important factor was also the economic crisis due to which the company needed more time to adapt its technology to waste burning. However, in 2011 the company decided to continue stopped plans what once again stirred up the opponents. However, the environmental permission was about to expire, so the company claimed that they had taken some steps in order to adjust to the technical needs and hired a notary who certified that there was some construction work at the cement plant. The opponents were not satisfied so they asked the regional government whether the work had been verified (did they have the required construction permits). Since the company didn`t provide the additional documents, the environmental permission was cancelled in September 2013.

In March 2015, the platform Aire Limpio warned that the Andalucian regional government once again opened up the possibility for the company to start the incineration facility. The anti-incinerator platform remains under alert.

Environmental impacts:

Potential: air pollution, soil contamination

Health impacts:

Visible: other health impacts

Potential: exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…)

Air pollution related health issues

Socio-economic impacts:

Visible: loss of landscape/sense of place

Potential: increase in corruption/co-optation of different actors

Location

Location: Spain, Andalucía, Córdoba

Google Maps: http://bit.ly/2sVVIRy

Environmental impact

• Air pollution

Ethical/ legal issues

• Health and well-being

Information sources & materials

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