La regulación jurídica de los residuos de construcción demolición (RCD) en España. El caso de la Comunidad de Madrid

Abstract

Spain is the fifth country in Europe generating construction and demolition waste (CDW) and unfortunately, it is one which does the least to recuperate it, as stated in the Symonds & Ass report. This report indicates that 90% of the 13 million tons of yearly generated waste materials end up in the dump and only 5% is recycled. In our country the management of CDW depends from the Autonomous Regions with the exception of the waste originated from minor house works; therefore, the Autonomous Regions have defined their management CDW plans referring to the National Plans. Those plans have been set based on the hierarchical principle, stated in title 1.1 of the 10/1998 Law referring to waste products. This principle establishes prevention as a top priority -whenever possible- followed by reutilization and recycling and in addition, to clearly assess all that cannot be reused o recycled. The final deposit in the dump is the last option, and the least satisfactory one. In this paper, some noticeable legal actions promoted in the last years by the Autonomous Region of Madrid to improve the management of CDW in buildings are presented.