Magda Gall, site administration and C&D waste manager in Alberich’s Industrial Demolition Division, has written the article ‘Impacto ambiental en la demolición industrial: retos y soluciones’ (‘Environmental impact in industrial demolition: challenges and solutions’) for the 2025 Yearbook of AEDED, the Spanish demolition association. Her starting point is that decontamination in industrial demolition and the recovery of materials are no longer secondary tasks and are increasingly at the heart of projects. Here is a summary of her main ideas.
What challenges does decontamination pose in an industrial demolition?
According to the article, one of the biggest challenges is managing hazardous waste: PCBs, asbestos, oils or contaminated soil. Demolishing an industrial facility is not just a matter of removing structures; workers’ health has to be protected, strict legal requirements met and toxic substances prevented from spreading into the surroundings.
At Alberich we tackle this with three measures: an early survey to locate contaminants before demolition, isolating critical areas so that production is not affected if the factory is still running, and handling and transport protocols that leave a traceable record of every waste stream. Each type of hazardous waste goes to its authorised final treatment facility; asbestos, specifically, is removed by a company on the RERA (Spain’s Register of Companies with Asbestos Risk).
Why does the circular economy change the way demolition is done?
Because it means seeing dismantling as the start of a new life cycle for materials. The article sets this out in three practices: separating and sorting metals and other materials from the outset; recycling and recovering them to get the most out of them; and keeping what ends up in landfill to a minimum, which benefits both the environment and the profitability of the project.
It also stresses collaboration: waste producers, waste management companies and the recycling industry form a chain, and what used to be thrown away can find another use if every link plays its part. The results of this approach on real projects are in our industrial demolition case studies.
What obstacles does the article identify?
- Frequent regulatory changes, which in some cases differ between Spain’s autonomous communities (regions) and call for a team that stays on top of permit applications. One example is the selective demolition promoted by Spain’s Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils, which Magda Gall wrote about in the previous yearbook: the new selective demolition law.
- The technical cost of decontamination: removing asbestos or PCBs requires specialist steps that push up the cost of the project if they are not planned from the start.
- Unforeseen issues: however thorough the analysis, undetected waste can turn up, and being able to replan quickly prevents work from grinding to a halt.
- Documentation: with many parties involved, health and safety paperwork and the coordination of business activities (CAE, Spain’s rules for coordinating safety between companies that share a workplace) need rigorous control.
Where is the sector heading, according to the yearbook?
The article points to four trends: advanced detection systems (drones, 3D scanners and data analysis) to locate hidden contaminants and plan better; remote-controlled machinery and robots that reduce operatives’ exposure in ATEX zones or areas with toxic substances; a circular economy that goes beyond recycling metals and concrete to reuse installations and components; and continuous training for every role. We look at these trends in more detail in the future of industrial demolition in Spain.
Where can you read the full article?
In the AEDED 2025 Yearbook, pages 84 to 86. If you’d like to know how we apply these ideas on site, take a look at our industrial demolition service.
Frequently asked questions
Who can remove asbestos in an industrial demolition?
Only a company on the RERA (Register of Companies with Asbestos Risk), with a work plan specific to that site. That is why it’s worth knowing whether there is asbestos before planning the demolition.
What happens to hazardous waste found during the work?
It is isolated, identified and handed over to an authorised final treatment facility with the corresponding transfer documentation. We explain how that process works in how hazardous waste is treated.
