Spanish authorities try to tackle trash trafficking from France

Thousands of lorries travel between France and Spain every day, some of them belonging to criminal gangs. I’m checking that it’s just transporting paper and not other waste and dangerous products. Spanish police say one in three lorries carrying rubbish between the two countries is breaking the law 200 kilometres from France. The region of Aragon is considered a hotspot for waste smuggling. Let’s see if we get lucky. Spanish police carry out regular checks on lorries travelling on this motorway. Can you show me the vehicle’s paperwork, please? The driver says he’s transporting used tires from Catalonia. I know where I collected the tires, but I don’t know where they came from. They could have come from Germany, from France. The paperwork checks out, but in many cases it’s impossible to determine whether other waste is being hidden. Other waste could be hidden under a load, but we can only go on the documents given to us by the transporters. At every check the police verify of waste has crossed the border illegally. Rubbish must be declared and can only come into Spain to be recycled. Takes place when documents are falsified or when there is an attempt to get rid of the waste to camouflage it, which isn’t allowed illegally. Bringing trash from one side of the Pyrenees to the other is becoming more frequent. Treating a 20 tonne lorry of non recyclable waste costs around €1000 in Spain compared to 5000 in France. 3 months ago investigators dismantled a trafficking operation worth about €60 million. This was a lorry that came directly from France. The waste it was transporting never actually went through a treatment centre. The criminal groups involved multiple companies along the way as a way of faking treatment operations that never in fact took place. Investigators believe French and Spanish companies brought household refuse from southern France to Spain, pretending it was treated in France. There is systematic illegal smuggling of waste on a daily basis from southern France to northern Spain, with profits up to several €1,000,000 operating over several countries. These are all the characteristics of organised crime. Some trafficked waste from France ends up at this enormous dump. They’re in the middle of dumping it. This just keeps happening. Jose Antonio is an environmental campaigner. He says dumping has risen in the last few years. French rubbish buried here without any kind of checks. I’ll try residuals. They bring waste here and we don’t know what’s in it and what type it is. So we don’t know how it’s polluting the soil and groundwater. With waste smuggling on the rise in Aragon, the region’s parliament is becoming more aware of the problem. How are you? I see the plenary Commission still hasn’t finished. Some of the MPs say the region isn’t taking the issue seriously. This is a question from MPs. Some say there’s been too little action and a lack of transparency by the region. They think they haven’t done enough to work with the authorities and the justice system. This conservative defends the ruling majority’s record and promises new measures. The result of this scandal is that we’re going to step up checks by 30%, particularly those linked to the transport of waste internationally. In Spain, traffickers, when caught, often escape with fines of several €1000. New European legislation to stiffen penalties is expected in the next few months. Allison Sargent takes you around the world every weekend. We’ll cover all the ground on all four corners of the world. Come with me Around the world every weekend on France, 24 women celebrating Mass. Can women be ordained priests? While popes change rules on Catholic women, priests stay the same. So I think the Vatican is afraid of, first of all, admitting that they’ve been wrong for centuries to deny women the equal place in the Catholic Church. In 2002, bishops broke Canon roar by ordaining women Las Mujeres presentes. Will women priests one day become the new norm? Hear their stories in reporters on France 24 From Friday to Sunday, Sharon Gaffney brings you Daybreak. Find out what’s making the news today. Join me every weekend for Daybreak on France 24.