Applied sustainability
Thanks to the know-how and techniques developed by the salineros, taking advantage of the natural elements, a sustainable industrial exploitation has been achieved.
The water that emerges from the springs, the sloping hillsides, the sun, the wind and the use of traditional techniques create a characteristic landscape. For centuries there have never been any waste materials, taking advantage of all natural resources to incredible limits.
All the materials used are natural, except in some moments of instability in which the fundamental principles that govern the life of the valley were relegated, giving precedence only to economic criteria. Both the production of salt and the construction of its structures are perfectly sustainable, achieving an optimal environmental and ecological balance.
Throughout its life, the Salt Valley has been in continuous maintenance, going through, as is logical, better and worse times due to the fluctuating demand for salt in the markets.
One of the worst occurred in the 20th century, when the mechanization of transport and the improvement of production techniques in the maritime salt mines and mines produced a systemic bankruptcy in the traditional inland salt mines, characterized by family and artisanal production. This fierce market competition led the Añana salt makers to apply materials such as cement, which was neither sustainable nor ecological, to the surface of the old salt pans. This generated, for the first time in the history of the salt pans, debris that was difficult to dispose of due to the great effort involved in transporting it out of the valley.
The evaporation surface area was also considerably increased with the construction of threshing floors in unsuitable locations and with unsustainable techniques and materials that disregarded the “know-how” applied for millennia by generations of salt workers.
The recovery of sustainability promoted by the salt makers since the end of the 20th century has meant a new turning point in the history of the Añana salt mines. The institutions have become involved in the project through the Añana Salt Valley Foundation; the marketing and sale of salt has been focused on quality and not quantity; the techniques and the millenary “know-how” of the salt makers have been recovered, both in the maintenance and repair of the platforms and in the production of salt; and the salt activity is being complemented with other tourist, cultural and health services open to all citizens.
All this is contributing to the fact that the Añana Salt Valley has recovered its sustainability and is already guaranteeing the social and economic future of a unique cultural landscape in the world. In addition, its heritage and environmental values are being respected.