La Falconera: innovation and sustainability through technosoils

Molins will restore the La Falconera quarry with an innovative type of soil: technosol, a combination of mineral and organic elements. This material brings sustainability and efficiency to the restoration project.

Molins will restore the La Falconera quarry with an innovative type of soil: technosol, a combination of mineral and organic elements. This material brings sustainability, versatility and efficiency to the restoration project, and allows us to use waste and surplus from land exploitation to create substrates that meet the needs of the project.

Thanks to technosoils we will be able to integrate the area affected by restoration with the Garraf Natural Park, recreating environments typical of this park such as maquis, woodland or dry meadows. By identifying autochthonous animal and plant species, we can enhance their habitats with technosoils designed taking into account the specific needs of these species.

The Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) is also participating in this Molins project by supporting the creation of the technosoils. Specifically, we are now working on a pilot test that, through the creation of plots with different types of soils, will help us to apply them to the rest of the quarry area that we will restore.

This project began in 1998 and is an update requested by the Department of Sustainability of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It should be noted that during the course of these more than 20 years we have been able to acquire knowledge and experience, both from our professionals and from the other participants, which improve the restoration process.

Specifically, in 2004, the La Falconera quarry participated in a project, with the participation of technology centres, universities and important companies in the extractive sector, called Project Life: EcoQuarry. From this project we were able to draw the necessary conclusions to face the current challenge and also to draw up a technical manual with criteria that are currently in force.

At Molins we are committed to the environment that surrounds us, which is why we are leading this project, with the aim of restoring La Falconera by taking advantage of technological advances that will allow us to work in a sustainable and efficient way. The maximum exponent of these advances are the technosoils, which take advantage of waste and surpluses generated by third parties to create soils adapted to the needs of different types of vegetation.

By helping to prepare this space for the future and guided by the values that have always accompanied us, we value Molins’ commitment to society as a whole.