Cantabria waste chief: citizen sorting works

Alberto Quijano, Cantabria’s director general for environment and climate change, said on May 14 that the region’s waste system works when residents separate rubbish correctly, tying the performance of public services to household behavior. Quijano’s remarks, reported by El Diario Montañés, came as Cantabria expands investment in recycling infrastructure and digital waste management. The regional government and its public company MARE have been rolling out new contracts, facility upgrades and municipal coordination measures tied to Spain’s waste rules. The practical message from officials has been consistent: better sorting at home is meant to feed a more efficient collection and treatment system. ### Who is Alberto Quijano, and what exactly did he say? Alberto Quijano serves as Cantabria’s director general of environment and climate change, a post he has held since the regional government’s 2023 appointments. In the May 14 interview cited in local coverage, he said the system functions when “the citizen separates correctly,” framing source separation as the condition for the rest of the chain to work. (cantabriaeconomica.com) The May 14 comments fit Quijano’s broader role in the region’s waste policy work. On June 20, 2025, he met the Federation of Municipalities of Cantabria alongside waste-policy and university participants to discuss collection, pricing and local adaptation to Spain’s waste law. ### What infrastructure is Cantabria adding to back that message? (ifomo.es) MARE, the regional public company for environment, water, waste and energy, put out a 2.1 million euro tender to digitalize access control across Cantabria’s network of puntos limpios, with financing from European Next Generation funds. The project covers equipment for the regional network and is part of a broader push to modernize how waste deliveries are tracked and managed. (federaciondemunicipios.com) Cantabria’s puntos limpios network currently has 36 fixed facilities, according to MARE’s website. Those sites are designed for household waste that should not go into standard street containers because of volume, characteristics or hazardous content. On February 5, 2026, trade publication IndustriAmbiente reported that Cantabria had also deployed a broader “Smart Residuos Cantabria” platform led by MARE and MOBA for integrated municipal waste management. (mare.es) That report said the platform was framed as part of the region’s digitalization strategy under Spain’s recovery plan. (mare.es) ### Which numbers best show the scale of the spending? A 2.5 million euro tender published in April 2025 covers construction of a new punto limpio in Laredo, a project the regional government said should be operating in the first quarter of 2026. The site is planned on a nearly 20,000-square-meter parcel, with 5,000 square meters for the waste facility and another 4,000 for a composting plant. (industriambiente.com) Roberto Media, Cantabria’s regional minister overseeing the area, said at the time that the Laredo project added to other waste investments including Castro Urdiales, El Mazo and the digitalization of the puntos limpios network, for a combined 11 million euros. A separate contract announced in February 2025 put 8.9 million euros toward collection, transport and treatment services for waste gathered in large-volume containers across the regional puntos limpios network. (ifomo.es) That tender was described as having a maximum duration of three years. ### Why are municipalities part of this story too? (ifomo.es) The Federation of Municipalities of Cantabria said on June 20, 2025 that local officials had asked Quijano for waste-collection prices from MARE early enough to calculate their costs. The federation said Quijano committed to sending that information so municipalities could prepare local ordinances. (eysmunicipales.es) The same meeting included Amaya Lobo of the University of Cantabria’s Leonardo Torres Quevedo Foundation, who presented a draft study on adapting waste service charges to Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy. The federation said that draft would be reviewed and then sent to municipalities. ### What comes next in Cantabria’s waste rollout? (federaciondemunicipios.com) MARE’s public information page says the 36-site puntos limpios network is already operating under a 2026 calendar and includes municipal deposit authorization documents for that year. The regional system is therefore moving ahead on current operations while digitalization and facility projects continue. The next concrete milestones named by officials include the Laredo punto limpio, which the regional government said was targeted to enter service in the first quarter of 2026, and the transfer of updated pricing and study materials to municipalities for ordinance planning. (federaciondemunicipios.com) Those steps involve MARE, the Federation of Municipalities of Cantabria and University of Cantabria participants already named in the process. (ifomo.es) (mare.es)