Thanks to the alliance between the Basque Deputy Ministry of Environmental Sustainability, Sprilur –the Basque Government's industrial land management company– and Ihobe –the Basque Government's Environmental Management Agency–, work is underway to return different plots to the market, once they have been restored to ensure the new uses do not harm the health of people and the environment.

This partnership has already led to the actions in the Lutxana and Burtzeña neighbourhoods (Barakaldo), at the former Fundifes premises (Durango) and in the Sakoni-Plaiabarri degraded industrial area (Erandio).

The action being taken in the Lutxana and Burtzeña neighbourhoods, in Barakaldo, affects a surface area of nearly 30 hectares. Its scope encompasses 11 plots that have been used FOR activities and facilities that were potential soil contaminants, along with waste being used as surface infill.

The Basque Government's Deputy Ministry of Environmental Sustainability, Sprilur and Ihobe have been working together to return various restored plots to the market, with the aim of ensuring the new uses do not harm the health of people and the environment

After the majority of the former industrial buildings have been demolished, the work to restore two of the plots, specifically those which were occupied by the Thermal Power Station and the Astilleros Reunidos del Nervión shipyards, is progressing at a good pace. At the same time, pilot contamination buffer schemes are being run on the largest plot in the zone – the one formerly occupied by Master – which is part of the clean-up project.

A second action is underway at the former Fundifes premises in Durango, which had been used for metal smelting and manufacturing iron cast parts for over seventy years. After studying the state of the ruin, the management of the waste remaining on the site, and cleaning and demolishing the building, the 12,456-square-metre plot is now free of buildings and is ready to be reused. Once the site had been studied, a restoration plan was drawn up and which is now in the pipeline.

Accordingly, Ihobe and Sprilur embarked on a public procurement process of innovative technology known as the GARBILAND challenge, with the aim of fostering the application of innovative technologies to restore contaminated soil. The GARBILAND challenge is seeking a technique or combination of techniques to restore contaminated soil that can be transferred to the market in the short term. The proposed technology or technologies must provide a sustainable and competitive solution for the existing contamination, both of the saturated and the non-saturated area of the soil and, potentially, of the underground water. The contract to carry out the works has been awarded to AFESA Medio Ambiente, a leading Basque company in the field of environmental engineering, with a high level of specialisation and a proven track record in decontaminating soils, dismantling large industrial facilities and advanced waste management.

The proposed technology involves a biorestoration process based on dynamic biobatteries combined with mushroom substrate and applying oxidizing substances compatible with the biorestoration processes. The first step is a semi-industrial pilot scheme; it is hoped that it will deliver real and measurable results in operating conditions that are scalable to the plot overall and applicable to other similar cases in the Basque Country.

The third action in the Sakoni-Plaiabarri zone, in Erandio, involves a 20-hectare plot of the 13 on the land inventory that has been used for potentially soil contaminating activities. There are 12 proceedings underway in that zone that have detected a large range of contaminants. The environmental focus is currently on the research and recovery of the land located on the right bank of the River Asua, where Sprilur and Eusko Trenbide Sarea (ETS) have planned actions to develop their respective activities.

Key actions are already underway in the Lutxana and Burtzeña neighbourhoods (Barakaldo), at the former Fundifes premises (Durango) and in the Sakoni-Plaiabarri degraded industrial area (Erandio), as well as in Gipuzkoa

Sprilur prioritises the regeneration and refurbishment of industrial infrastructures.

By shoring up the policies to re-industrialise and improve the industrial and business ecosystem, Sprilur is in line with the Basque Soil Protection Strategy 2030 in order to undertake the sustainable restoration and transformation of contaminated soil; the aim is to enhance the land for new uses, thus avoiding its transformation into artificial land for economic activities.

This publicly-owned company currently has 23 regeneration and/or refurbishment projects underway, and aimed at restoring degraded soils affected by the historical industrial activity in our territory. These Sprilur decontamination and restoration projects involve a total surface area currently standing at 2,841,383 square metres. In turn, in the last two years, 698,569 square metres of land that have so far obtained the required soil quality declaration.

Apart from the above actions in Bizkaia, Sprilur is undertaking other projects, such as refurbishing the former Muebles Vizcaya site to be home to the future Güeñes Bioeconomy Hub and the construction of a new Osasun Poloa building in Sestao. Both trailblazing projects come under the Supramunicipal Strategic Plans (PEC) of Ezkerraldea; they are being implemented on regenerated land, as revival initiatives in the Preferential Action Areas. Furthermore, the planned recovered of the former Etxe-Uli landfill in Santurtzi will be one of the projects that will get underway during 2025 and will involve large-scale decontamination and hydraulic performance work.

As regards the main restoration projects in Gipuzkoa, special mention should be made of the recovery of the former Sidenor site in Legazpi (100,000 m²), an important project that is respecting and restoring some buildings that are symbols of the industrial heritage, by applying sustainable measures, reusing waste for other sites, redeveloping and enhancing the location. In Zumarraga and Urretxu, some of the most important areas managed by Sprilur, the restoration and redevelopment of nearly a further 100,000 squares metres is being carried out at the former Arcelor Mittal premises. In Pasia, Sprilur is making progress in the recovery and construction of a building in La Herrera, which is also part of the Pasaialdea Supramunicipal Strategic Plan, which also envisages Adinberri project initiatives.

Finally, in Zumaia, Sprilur has undertaken the restoration and redevelopment of the former Xey facilities. These figures for the last four years point to the need to continue bolstering the joint work with sectoral public agents to align environmental intervention with the economy in the main challenges of generating a competitive business fabric, a sustainable ecosystem and social cohesion. It can thus be said that sustainable industrial development is compatible with the natural environment.

The soil, a scarce and valuable resource in the Basque Country

With the theme “Caring for Soils: Measure, Monitor, Manage", the Basque Country is taking part in World Soil Day on Thursday 5 December. Over 95 percent of our food comes from soils; they are a fundamental part of the balance of ecosystems and for greenhouse gas fixation, among other vital functions.
However, their lack of protection comes at a price: soil degradation is estimated to lead to the loss of ecosystem services to the tune of €38 billion a year in the European Union alone; while erosion costs European farmers around €1,250 million each year.

The Basque Country is marking World Soil Day, which has been held every 5 December since 2014, the year in which the UN designated that date at the proposal of the FAO

The Basque Country is positioned as a ground-breaking region in Europe as it prioritises a holistic vision of soil protection, which goes beyond the traditional approach to contamination that has occurred in industrialised regions such as the Basque Country. This change of paradigm is led by the Basque Soil Protection Strategy 2030, approved in 2022. This strategy sets the direction to be followed by all stakeholders deploying initiatives that may affect soil quality. The target is for all soil of the territory to be managed sustainably by 2050, avoiding its degradation and thus guaranteeing its long-term health and functions so that future generations can continuing using it.

The strategy therefore has five priority objectives, namely to: reduce soil consumption; manage land occupancy; protect against harmful impacts; restore degraded soils in order to recover their inherent function taking into account their location; and protect the soil by means of management and its sustainable use by suitably trained professionals and by an aware public.