Organisation

COGERSA is a public consortium formed by the Government of Asturias and its 78 municipal Councils. This consortium is the owner of the facilities for waste treatment, which are managed by COGERSA, S.A.U., a public company owned by COGERSA. 

The consortium is organised by individual organs (President and General Manager) and governing bodies (Governing Board and Executive Committee). The President of the Consortium is elected within the Governing Board from among its members. The Governing Board of the consortium is composed of two representatives from each of the associated entities, chosen by themselves. The Executive Committee consists of a representative of the Government of Asturias; a representative of the municipalities of Avilés, Gijón and Oviedo; three representatives of other municipalities chosen by the Governing Board, and is chaired by the President of the Consortium. The President and the Collegiate bodies are renewed every four years, coinciding with the changes of the Government of the Principality.

The public company COGERSA S.A.U. is organised by the General Meeting and the Board of Directors, whose members match those of the Governing Board and the Executive Committee of the consortium, respectively. The General Manager of COGERSA, S.A.U. is the Manager of the Consortium. The employees for the exploitation of the facilities are hired by COGERSA, S.A.U.

Mission

To ensure a public service of an integrated, solidary, cost-effective, and environmentally sound waste management system. COGERSA aims to provide the most sustainable waste management process in Asturias and therefore it is devoted to the promotion of the 3Rs (Reduction, Reuse and Recycling) and innovation as fundamental to sustainable development.

Vision

To keep as efficient public system for waste management in Asturias by improving existing processes, developing and implementing new ones to meet coming EU regulations and even go further, promoting waste prevention, innovation, sustainability and an environmental engaged community in Asturias.

History

The public consortium, COGERSA, was created in 1982 by the Government of Asturias and eight municipal councils to develope an integrated solution for the controlled landfilling of their urban waste. The centralised landfill of the consortium was built by COGERSA in 1985. Gradually, the rest of the 78 municipal councils were incorporated until 2000. The public Company, COGERSA S.A.U, was established in 1985 to be in charged of the waste management and landfill operation. While COGERSA was originally developed to manage municipal waste, it engaged in the management of industrial waste in 1992 when the Government of Asturias was developing the plan for the sanitation of the rivers of the most industrialised area of Asturias. Since 1985, COGERSA has evolved from a centralised municipal landfill to a modern integrated waste treatment installation, thus allowing managing one million tonnes/year of municipal and industrial waste (hazardous and non-hazardous). The integrated facilities include three landfills pursuant to the Council Directive 1999/31/EC; three classification plants in compliance with the European directives on packaging waste, and electrical and electronic equipment waste; a construction and demolition waste recovery plant; waste-to-energy treatment for clinical waste; Biomembrat® for biological leachate treatment; power generation from landfill biogas, etc.

Figures:

• More than 250 ha devoted to the integrated waste management in the complementary 17 treatment plants
• More than 200 employees
• More than 750,000 t/y of waste are managed
• ≈ 400,000 t/y of mixed municipal waste and 70,000 t/y of sewage waste
• 40 routes for municipal mixed waste collection
• 9 transfer stations strategically placed throughout Asturias for an efficient urban waste transportation
• 13 Recycling Points are served by COGERSA's personnel, and waste collection throughout more than 30 Recycling Points
• More than 13,000 containers throughout Asturias for separate collection of light packaging (yellow bins), paper/cardboard (blue bins) and glass (green bins)
• Waste-to-energy for more than 700 t/y of potentially infectious clinical residues
• Anaerobic digestion for 30,000 t/y of bio-waste or sewage sludge
• ≈ 38,000 t/y of hazardous waste
• Production of more than 8,000 t/y of compost (eco-labelled green waste compost, and sewage sludge compost
• Depuration of 200,000 t/y landfill leachate
• Laboratory for waste, process and environmental control, involving around 7,000 samples and 17,000 parameters analysed every year
• Collection of more than 35 million m³/y landfill biogas and subsequent production of more than 45 GWh/y electricity
• ≈ 1 million €/y invested for 3R campaigns