Matas Blancas closure ends thirty years of uncontrolled waste
The Canary Islands Government’s Department of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water financed this operation with €1,062,444.95, restoring the landscape of a high‑value rural and environmental area that had accumulated almost 250,000 m² of uncontrolled waste.
The Department received, on the morning of Thursday 5 February, the completed works for the closure and sealing of the Matas Blancas landfill in the municipality of Pájara (Fuerteventura). The project, budgeted at €1.062 million, was carried out in just four months, from 30 September 2025 to 28 January 2026.
To grasp the scale of the former dump, one must go back to 1993‑1994, when the first waste deposits appeared in Matas Blancas, as shown by the earliest digital images. Initially the waste was dumped on both sides of the Güerepe–Matas Blancas road, but over the years it spread unchecked, eventually filling the channel of the Fuente Nueva–Güerepe ravine and severely disrupting its natural flow.
The uncontrolled accumulation created large embankments and platforms that crowned the ravine’s slopes, producing a striking visual impact. At its peak, the landfill covered 246 553 m², making it one of the largest waste sites in the archipelago.
The closure and sealing project addressed the entire contaminated area and even expanded beyond the limits defined in the European assessment. The Canary Islands Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment (ACPMN) determined that a proper landscape restoration required intervention in additional zones where scattered waste remained, adding a substantial manual‑cleaning zone that had not been foreseen in the original plan.
Landscape Restoration of a Degraded Environment
The hand‑over ceremony was attended by:
- Manuel Miranda, Councilor for Territorial Policy
- Lola García, President of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura
- Alejandro Jesús Jorge Moreno, Mayor of Pájara
- Montserrat Ortega, Director of the ACPMN (the agency responsible for executing the project)
“This is a strategic intervention for the environmental and landscape restoration of one of the archipelago’s most degraded spaces caused by uncontrolled waste,” — Manuel Miranda.
“Within the Cabildo’s strategy to conserve our territory, it is essential that administrations coordinate. We thank the Canary Islands Natural Environment Agency for following this crucial roadmap to restore the Matas Blancas area,” — Lola García.
Miranda emphasized that the closure of Matas Blancas represents a key step in the Canary Islands’ landfill‑recovery strategy, aimed at correcting historic environmental impacts and returning degraded sites to nature. He recalled that one of his department’s priorities this legislative term is the restoration of all landfills cited in the European Commission’s infringement procedure opened in 2015. Between 2024 and 2025, roughly €4.5 million were allocated to seal eight landfills across the archipelago.
How the Environmental Restoration Was Carried Out
The works comprised:
- Stabilisation of slopes
- Sealing of waste – mainly construction and demolition debris, along with vegetal remains, wood, metals and discarded tires
- Recovery of the ravine’s channel
Because of the site’s complexity, the area was divided into eight zones, each treated with specific technical solutions and materials chosen to match the soil’s colour palette, ensuring a seamless integration with the surrounding landscape.
Special care was taken to protect a temporary lagoon downstream, a high‑value ecological refuge for local flora and fauna. This zone was kept free of heavy machinery; all cleaning was performed manually to minimise disturbance.
The operation took place on rustic land, partially adjoining protected rustic terrain within the Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve. The project also considered the presence of the guirre (common alimoche, Neophron percnopterus majorensis), a protected vulture species unique to the Canary Islands.
The closure of Matas Blancas marks the end of three decades of uncontrolled dumping, restoring a vital natural area and setting a precedent for future landfill remediation across the islands.