The threat of tire graveyards

On May 13, the black smoke of the great fire that broke out in the Seseña tire dump, Toledo could be seen from the very center of Madrid more than 40 kilometers away, and those who live closest were forced to remain in their houses to avoid health problems derived from contamination. The smoke has continued to affect the daily life of the neighbors during this week. The largest existing rubber cemetery in Spain, with more than five million wheels, began to burn uncontrollably despite warnings of the ecological danger of this illegal dump for 15 years. The European Commission had opened a file to Spain, precisely on April 28, in order to gather more information about the Seseña landfill, but it is not the only case of alert, and the fire has brought them to light in the media .

Although it does not have the monstrous size of the one in Seseña, Brussels also asked Spain about an existing landfill in Fuerteventura that accumulates more than 200,000 tires, according to El País. The illegal landfill of Fene, in A Coruña, is also worrying, with more than 90,000 abandoned tires. Let’s hope that new disasters are not necessary to call for the necessary measures to be taken.