• Direct. Last minute about the coronavirus crisis
  • Interior.The Civil Guard investigates the illegal destruction of medical waste infected by Covid-19
  • Madrid.Find numerous sanitary wastes "possibly contaminated with coronaviruses" stored outdoors

The Civil Guard intensifies the investigation begun in late April on the allegedly illegal treatment of waste infected by coronavirus. And it has done so by registering this Wednesday the facilities in Madrid of one of the large companies specialized in the transfer and disposal of this type of hazardous waste, Consenur , one of whose shipments was intervened and immobilized in Palma after detecting that it was about to be shipped to Tarragona without complying with the mandatory sanitary measures for this type of waste.

The agents then intervened a truck with coronavirus-infected medical equipment that would have been used in the main public hospital in Mallorca and other private hospital centers. According to sources familiar with the investigation, the agents warned that the mandatory isolation and sterilization measures were not being followed. The truck, among other deficiencies investigated, was not refrigerated.

After that discovery, the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard started an investigation that was initially orchestrated by the Investigating Court number 3 of Palma and, as EL MUNDO revealed, caused the arrest of a person related to the investigated company. After taking his statement, he was released on charges. The investigations have been carried out under summary secrecy.

During this Wednesday, judicial police officers have been searching the headquarters of the investigated company, which belongs to a multinational group and which owns treatment plants distributed throughout Spain. One of them, the one in Mallorca, located next to the main waste treatment center on the island, the Ses Veles industrial estate , has already been inspected by the authorities, who opened a file when they found defects in the treatment of waste derived from health work to combat the coronavirus, mainly equipment used by health workers and laboratory tests.

Gloves, masks and gowns

The Balearic Government opened a sanctioning file that could translate into economic sanctions of between 300,000 euros and 1.7 million euros. As this newspaper reported last May, the police operation began with a random inspection carried out by the Civil Guard in the port of Palma. There, merchandise from health centers was discovered.

According to sources close to the investigations, those responsible for the company refer to the amount of waste generated during the pandemic to justify that the established protocol has not been complied with. Likewise, the same sources stress that they hired a transport company to carry the material and that they trusted that this company complied with the legal requirements.

On March 27, the Secretary of State for the Environment issued an instruction on the management of hospital waste in contact with Covid-19. It established that "waste from hospitals, ambulances, health centers, laboratories or similar establishments, as well as those derived from the disinfection of the facilities, be considered as infectious waste and will be managed as such."

In such a way that " gloves , masks, gowns , etc" should be placed in the hands of specialized companies and "maximize the filling of the containers to achieve the most efficient management possible".

The protocol to follow

Likewise, it establishes that the containers that hold infected material, either for storage or transfer, "must remain closed", without its contents being manipulated or transferred. Therefore, "preferably watertight containers or containers that allow manipulation by mechanical means" should be used.

The Environmental Prosecutor's Office itself also sent an official letter, on March 26, to the territorial delegates of the Public Ministry to monitor "the correct monitoring of the content of the aforementioned" governmental "order regarding treatment, management and disposal of controversial waste, "and urged them to carry out this control through the different police forces.

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  • Civil Guard
  • Majorca
  • Spain
  • Madrid
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • Health

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