Ibiza's waste-management system is facing renewed scrutiny as local authorities, environmental organisations and waste experts come together to examine how the islands could reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill or incineration.

A technical workshop held in Ibiza on Friday, September 18, brought together representatives of the Consell d'Eivissa and the town halls of Santa Eulària, Sant Josep, Eivissa and Sant Antoni, along with social organisations and businesses connected to waste management.

The meeting was organised by Plastic Free: Alianza Residuo Cero Ibiza y Formentera as part of its wider work on waste prevention, reuse, recycling and the transition towards a zero-waste model.

Looking beyond the current system

The workshop focused on a practical question: what changes would be needed to reduce the amount of waste remaining after separate collection?

Experts discussed the costs of maintaining the current system, examples from other territories and the choices that municipalities will face when preparing or renewing waste-collection contracts.

The aim was not to promote a single model for every municipality, but to examine which approaches could deliver better results in the particular circumstances of the Pitiusas.

Lessons from Sardinia

One of the international examples discussed was Sardinia.

Enzo Favoino, chair of the Scientific Committee of Zero Waste Europe, joined the workshop by videoconference and highlighted the Italian island's experience with separate waste collection.

Sardinia currently separately collects around 76% of its municipal waste, according to recent Zero Waste Europe data.

The region has also established targets to further increase separate collection and reduce overall waste generation.

What Contarina can teach the islands

Favoino also pointed to Contarina in northern Italy as another example of a high-performing waste-management system.

The district has achieved separate-collection levels approaching 90%, demonstrating the potential of systems designed around source separation and the reduction of residual waste.

The examples were presented as references for discussion rather than systems that can simply be transferred unchanged to Ibiza or Formentera.

Organic waste is a major part of the solution

The treatment of organic waste was another central theme.

Favoino explained that separating food and other organic material can make it possible to produce compost while also reducing the amount of material entering the residual-waste stream.

Organic waste represents a significant proportion of household rubbish, meaning that improving its separate collection can have a substantial effect on the amount of waste requiring final treatment.

The approach also links waste management with soil improvement and the recovery of resources.

There is no single solution

Patrícia Martín Gascon, director of the technical office at environmental consultancy Spora, presented different waste-collection models and the conditions needed for them to work effectively.

She stressed that there is no single system that can be applied identically to every municipality.

Instead, the desired results should be established before deciding how a new service should be designed.

That principle could become particularly relevant as municipalities review future contracts for waste collection and street cleaning.

Ibiza already faces high waste generation

The discussion comes against a challenging local background.

Ibiza & Formentera Preservation currently reports that Ibiza generated 582 kilograms of waste per inhabitant in 2024, describing the island as the Balearic island with the highest per-capita waste generation.

The organisation says the problem becomes particularly acute during the high season, when consumption increases and waste-management systems face additional pressure.

Ca Na Putxa adds urgency

The capacity of Ibiza's waste infrastructure is another part of the debate.

Plastic Free: Alianza Residuo Cero Ibiza y Formentera identifies the Ca Na Putxa landfill as one of the island's most urgent environmental challenges and says it is approaching its projected maximum capacity for 2030.

The alliance argues that reducing waste generation and increasing the quality of separate collection will be necessary to reduce pressure on final-treatment infrastructure.

Ibiza and Formentera need island-scale thinking

The alliance's work extends across the Pitiusas, where waste management is affected by the islands' geography and limited infrastructure.

Formentera's municipal waste, for example, is transferred to Ibiza for treatment at Ca Na Putxa because the smaller island does not have its own urban-waste treatment facilities.

That makes cooperation between the two islands particularly relevant when considering transport, treatment capacity and long-term waste policy.

Future contracts are an important opportunity

The workshop also focused on upcoming municipal contracts.

Plastic Free argues that the contracts used to organise waste collection and street cleaning should contain measurable objectives for waste reduction and better separation rather than focusing solely on the quantity of services provided.

Among the measures it has proposed are collection systems adapted to individual areas, priority for organic waste, annual targets for reducing residual waste, stronger inspection and monitoring, incentives linked to results and specific systems for large producers and the tourism sector.

These are proposals from the alliance rather than requirements already adopted by all municipalities.

Municipalities are already changing collection systems

Some of the changes discussed at the workshop are already appearing on the ground.

Santa Eulària began the gradual introduction of separate household organic-waste collection in March 2026, initially covering dispersed residential areas before expanding to population centres.

The municipality has also incorporated organic collection into its wider waste-management planning.

In Ibiza city, a new night-time route for commercial organic waste collection was introduced in July, alongside a dedicated glass collection route for the historic centre.

Waste management is also a financial issue

The discussions are not only about environmental performance.

Favoino highlighted the need to compare the cost of changing the waste system with the potential cost of maintaining the existing model over the next decade, particularly as landfill and incineration costs increase.

For municipalities, decisions made when signing long-term service contracts can therefore have financial consequences as well as environmental ones.

The alliance has been working on the issue throughout 2026

The September workshop forms part of a longer process.

Earlier in 2026, Plastic Free: Alianza Residuo Cero Ibiza y Formentera organised technical sessions focused on lessons from Sardinia and potential high-efficiency waste-management models for the Pitiusas.

In May, the alliance called for a broader Pact for Waste in the Pitiusas, bringing together public institutions, political groups, businesses, civil-society organisations and residents around longer-term waste objectives.

From diagnosis to implementation

Sofía Ribas, founder of (Ma) and coordinator of Plastic Free: Alianza Residuo Cero, said the group had spent recent months examining what has worked in other territories.

The next challenge, she said, is to determine how those lessons could be applied locally.

That means moving from studying different approaches to deciding which measures are technically, financially and socially suitable for Ibiza and Formentera.

A focus on reducing residual waste

The central objective of the approach is not simply to increase the amount placed in recycling containers.

The wider zero-waste model prioritises preventing waste in the first place, followed by reuse, repair, recycling and recovery.

Reducing the residual fraction is particularly important because material placed in that stream is ultimately directed towards final-treatment facilities rather than being recovered as a separate resource.

A challenge for residents, businesses and institutions

Improving waste management will require changes at several levels.

Residents play a role through separating household waste correctly, while hotels, restaurants and other large producers generate significant volumes during the tourism season.

Municipalities are responsible for designing and contracting collection systems, while the island and regional administrations have responsibilities connected with treatment infrastructure and waste policy.

The workshop therefore brought together several of the groups involved in the system.

The tourism season adds pressure

Waste generation in Ibiza is strongly seasonal.

During the summer, the island's population and consumption increase significantly, placing additional demands on collection services and treatment facilities.

That makes the design of systems for businesses and other large waste producers particularly important.

Plastic Free's proposals include dedicated collection circuits for major generators and the tourism sector as part of a wider effort to improve separation and reduce residual waste.

Formentera faces a different infrastructure challenge

Formentera's position is different because the island does not have its own urban-waste treatment facilities.

Waste is transferred to Ibiza for treatment at Ca Na Putxa, creating an additional inter-island transport requirement.

The Balearic Government has specifically funded the transfer of Formentera's waste to Ibiza during 2026 because of the additional cost created by the island's geography.

What happens next

The September workshop is intended to contribute to the next stage of discussions around waste-management policy and future municipal contracts.

The alliance says the objective is to turn the lessons gathered from other territories into practical measures suited to the Pitiusas.

That process will involve decisions by municipalities and other public authorities, as well as participation from businesses and civil-society organisations.

Ibiza's waste system enters a critical period

With Ibiza generating more than half a tonne of waste per person annually according to current figures from Ibiza & Formentera Preservation, and with pressure on Ca Na Putxa continuing, reducing waste is becoming an increasingly important issue for the island.

At the same time, changes such as the introduction of separate organic collection in Santa Eulària and expanded commercial collection in Ibiza show that the system is already evolving.

The challenge now is whether those individual measures can be combined with longer-term planning and stronger separation systems across the Pitiusas.

A push towards a different model

The September workshop did not produce a single new waste-management system for Ibiza and Formentera.

Instead, it brought together local decision-makers and technical specialists to examine how other territories have approached waste reduction, what those systems cost and how the lessons could be adapted locally.

With several municipal contracts expected to shape waste services for years to come, the choices made in the coming period could have a lasting effect on how much waste the islands generate, recover and ultimately send for final treatment.