In 2019, ToxicoWatch (TW) foundation initiated, at the request of the local group Zubieta-Lantzen, a multi-year biomonitoring research on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the surrounding environment of the Waste-to-Energy (WtE) incinerator in Zubieta. Located in the province of Gipuzkoa, the municipal district of Donostia/San Sebastián, in the vicinity of the village of Zubieta of the Basque Country in northern Spain.
TW started in Zubieta in 2019 with a baseline (‘zero-measurement’) biomonitoring study, conducted before the incinerator started into production in 2020. The biomonitoring studies are based on an extensive range of biomatrices in the years of analysis (2019-2025), including backyard chicken eggs, pine needles (Pinus Radiata), vegetation/leaves, like Holly (Ilex aquifolium), mosses (bryophytes), soil, sediment, water and even human breast milk from mothers living in nearby the villages of Usurbil, Lasarte and Andoain in 2019.
The latest Biomonitoring (interim)report of April 1st 2025, with the support of Zero Waste Europe, show the results of the samples collected in May 2024 in the surrounding environment of the waste-to-energy (WtE) waste incinerator in Zubieta. With the focus on the environmental impact of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs), heavy metals (HM), and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Key findings Biomonitoring Zubieta region, 2024:
- In Hernani, located 3,500 metres east of the waste incinerator, the highest dioxin concentration is analysed in backyard chicken eggs, of 13 years of TW biomonitoring across Europe.
- PFAS detected in all examined backyard chicken eggs.
- In 2024, PFAS is analysed in a drinking water source, located on a hill near Andoain.
- Rising trends of analysis on heavy metals, since TW biomonitoring 2019-2023, in water, soil, mosses, and sediment, with elevated concentrations of:
Water: zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb).
Soil: cadmium (Cd), silver (Ag), manganese (Mn) and mercury (Hg)
Mosses (bryophytes): arsenic (As), barium (Ba), nickel (Ni) and tin (Sn)
Sediment: Cobalt (Co), Manganese (Mn).
