The Cabildo is changing its approach to organic waste treatment, with new infrastructure designed to process biodegradable waste even when it arrives mixed with conventional rubbish
Tenerife is set to invest more than €75 million in a major overhaul of how organic waste is treated across the island.
The Cabildo de Tenerife has approved its new Island Organic Waste Management Programme, with the aim of progressively treating all organic matter generated on Tenerife and reducing the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill.
A major part of the strategy is tackling methane emissions, which are produced when organic material decomposes in landfill.
The programme is also intended to bring Tenerife closer to the circular economy model and help the island meet European and Spanish waste management requirements.
📅 Date: August 2026
📍 Area: Tenerife
💶 Investment: More than €75 million
♻️ Focus: Organic waste treatment and recycling
Tenerife produces more than 200,000 tonnes of organic waste
The figures explain why the Cabildo believes a change is needed.
Tenerife currently generates more than 200,000 tonnes of organic matter every year.
But only around 2,000 tonnes are collected separately.
That means the amount being collected through dedicated organic waste systems is more than 100 times lower than the total amount generated.
With the rollout of separate collection moving slowly in some municipalities, the Cabildo has decided it cannot simply wait for all organic waste to arrive separately.
Instead, the Tenerife Environmental Complex will be equipped to recover and treat organic material even when it arrives mixed with conventional municipal waste.
A different approach to the problem
The programme will be developed in two phases and includes both the construction of new treatment infrastructure and its subsequent operation.
The investment will be financed through the normal funding system for waste treatment, alongside money generated through charges linked to greenhouse gas emissions from landfill disposal.
Between 2024 and 2027, the Cabildo expects to allocate €13,041,450.72 from these revenues specifically to measures designed to prevent emissions.
The thinking is fairly straightforward.
If organic waste is going into landfill, Tenerife is effectively burying a potentially useful resource while also creating methane emissions.
The new system is intended to stop doing that.
More containers for separate collection
The Cabildo isn’t abandoning separate collection, either.
Although the island will develop the capacity to treat organic waste arriving mixed with other rubbish, the institution says it will continue supporting municipalities with the rollout of separate collection.
As part of the first phase, almost €222,000 will be allocated to purchase 691 new organic waste containers.
These will be distributed with priority given to municipalities and associations that already have separate collection systems in place or are currently introducing them.
The Cabildo will also maintain its zero-cost treatment measure for organic waste that arrives through separate collection.
The aim is to stop burying organic waste
Cabildo president Rosa Dávila said Tenerife cannot continue sending organic material to landfill when it can instead be treated as a resource and when its decomposition is one of the main sources of methane emissions.
The island therefore wants to make sure there is a treatment solution even while municipalities continue developing their own collection systems at different speeds.
The €75 million-plus investment represents a significant change in approach, but the basic objective is fairly simple: less organic waste in landfill, more treatment and recovery, and fewer emissions.
Tenerife is effectively trying to build the infrastructure first rather than waiting for the perfect waste collection system to arrive.
And given the amount of organic waste the island produces every year, that probably makes sense.