Artxanda landfill decontamination remains stalled in Bizkaia

The decontamination process for the former Artxanda landfill, located between La Villa and Sondika, remains unresolved five years after efforts began. The site, which closed in 1976, contains urban and industrial waste, including the carcinogen HCH-lindane.

While Berriz Recycling Company assumed decontamination tasks in 2024 to repurpose the 250,000-square-meter area, progress has stalled. The Basque Government and the Bilbao City Council recently halted works to ensure remediation safety, citing a lack of adequate supervision of the private company's actions.

The Basque Ombudsman (Ararteko) and the Basque People's Defender have both called on the Basque Government to accelerate soil quality declarations and implement a definitive action plan to address persistent HCH-lindane contamination in uncontrolled waste deposits across Bizkaia.