AIRWATCH ESTEPONA CASARES is working in partnership with CAPOA to address the foul emissions emitting from the nearby waste treatment plant.
AIRWATCH ESTEPONA CASARES is working in partnership with CAPOA to address the foul emissions emitting from the nearby waste treatment plant.
We are local residents from Estepona, Casares and surrounding areas who have been increasingly affected by the toxic emissions and odours from the nearby waste treatment plant. Responsible waste management is essential — but it must also protect the people who live nearby.
Once distant, it now borders growing neighbourhoods and when regulations aren't properly followed, sulphur compounds and volatile particles escape into the air, affecting our air quality and health.
In the short term, prolonged exposure to these emissions (like hydrogen sulphide and ammonia) can irritate the eyes, throat, and lungs causing headaches, nausea, and fatigue.
In the long term, these emissions can cause serious health effects like increased risk of cancer or reproductive issues.
Bad odours additionally reduce property value and quality of life, affecting residents and businesses alike — and once a reputation spreads, it’s hard to reverse.
Spanish and Andalusian laws prohibit industrial activity from causing persistent nuisance or odour beyond its site. (Ley 34/2007 de Calidad del Aire).
In partnership with CAPOA, we are compiling our documented incidents and formally presenting them to the Town Hall. We will approach the Town Hall with a clear, collective request and ask them to support us in taking this matter to the Junta de Andalucía. Our goal is to ensure that the plant is fully complying with all local and EU waste-management regulations.
You can help the community in the following ways:
Report odours via the Línea Verde app or the Ayuntamiento Sede Electronica to file a complaint
Log an incident on our Odour Report to help us collect and track frequency
Share this website with neighbours. There is power in numbers. Together, we can keep our community's air clean and healthy.
The Complejo Ambiental Costa del Sol, in Casares, processes up to ≈ 350,000 tonnes of municipal waste per year, serving over half a million people across 11 municipalities of the Costa del Sol. (urbaser.com)
This massive volume, including household refuse, organic waste, recyclables, and landfill rejects, produces volatile by-products: gases, leachate, and odors from decomposition, composting, and storage. The plant itself has installed biofilters and gas‑venting systems in response to complaints from neighbors, acknowledging that emissions cannot be fully contained on site. (casares.es)
A recent fire in 2025 at one of its landfill cells, highlighted the failures in capturing flammable gases, which instead release into the nearby air supply. (cadenaser.com)
Urgent conclusion: What happens inside the plant does not stay inside. Given its scale and the nature of the waste processed, emissions - including gases, pollutants, and odors - are inevitably entering the air residents breathe. Independent monitoring and full transparency on air quality are urgently needed.