A Valls Court of First Instance has opened an investigation to clarify if the waste deposit of the Iberboard Mill paper mill, in Alcover, may constitute a crime against the environment. The Public Prosecutor's Office has taken the case to court after finding indications of criminality in facilities that remained closed after the bankruptcy proceedings filed by the company in April 2024.
The judicial investigation focuses on an estimated volume of 15 million tons of waste abandoned outside the warehouse. The removal of that material began in December of last year, while preliminary actions advanced on the scope of the spill and its possible impact.
Actions initiated after the inspections
The complaint is signed by chief prosecutor María José Osuna and, for now, is not directed against any specific person or entity. The origin of the case lies in the informative proceedings opened by the Cuerpo de Agentes Rurales due to a possible illegal waste deposit. The complaint filed by the Associació per a l'Estudi i Millora dels Salmònids, AEMS Rius amb vida, based in Barcelona, has also been incorporated into these proceedings.
The rural agents carried out external inspections of the facilities on January 20 and 22 of last year. Based on these checks, the Public Prosecutor's Office activated the judicial route to clarify if the detected accumulation violated environmental regulations and if it could generate a serious impact on the environment.
"Had not removed the waste that he had accumulated in the enclosure" - María José Osuna, chief prosecutor
Potential risk for the Francolí river
In her brief, the prosecutor maintains that the accumulation of materials had not been authorized and warns that, if it increases, it could cause serious pollution to the Francolí river. At the same time, the Public Prosecutor's Office specifies that the dangerousness of all the localized material cannot yet be definitively established, as the investigation remains open and has not concluded.
The list of accumulated waste is extensive and includes paper, cardboard, metals, wood, packaging, automotive parts, electronics, electricity, remains of hygiene products, textile materials, and bulky waste. Part of that material came from France, according to the labeling found during the checks.
Doubts about the origin of part of the material
The complaint also points out that there is the possibility that not all the waste recently detected comes from the paper manufacturing processes. That point is part of the questions that the investigation opened in the court of Valls must now clarify.
The Prosecutor's Office has asked Seprona of the Civil Guard to submit its report and has also requested the declaration as witnesses of two rural agents who participated in the proceedings. With these investigations, the court seeks to determine the origin of the waste, its real composition, and whether the accumulation outside the Alcover plant came to generate a criminally relevant risk for the natural environment.