1 Final Disposal of the Wastes Associated to the Oil Spill of the Tanker Prestige through its Stabilization with Quicklime and Granite Fines 1 Diego Carro, Jordi Delgado 2 , Ana Vázquez, Víctor Barrientos, Ricardo Juncosa Abstract The sinking of the tanker Prestige produced a large oil spill that affected a wide coastal area of the NW corner of Spain. Cleaning operations were performed on the sea and the shores and the waste recovered waste is a mélange of fuel, water, sand and pebbles, algae, plastic bags and boxes, cleaning tools, contaminated dresses and boots,…. which, at the time of writing this contribution, is still pending of its final disposal. Waste mass balances show that, while the total amount of recovered fuel is close to the amount spilled by the vessel (~43000 metric tons) the total amount of waste sums up to more than 4 times this quantity (~170000 metric tons). In order to help to design a cost effective management strategy we have undertaken a comprehensive study aimed at: a) finding stabilization agents; b) to characterize the geotechnical behavior of the stabilized mass and c) to recycle it through its incorporation to the production cycle of prefabricated concrete and mortar elements. This paper focuses in the two first aspects while the third one is treated in a companion paper. The incorporation of lime and granite fines as stabilizing agents transforms the fluid waste into a dry and dusty material amenable of safe compaction and landfill disposal. Moreover, the properties of the mixture enhance the separation of extraneous materials (plastic, rock pebbles, etc.), pass the currently accepted leaching tests (i.e. EN 12457) and show a good geotechnical performance. Keywords: oils spill, oily waste, waste stabilization, geotechnical characterization Introduction On the morning of November, 19 th of 2002, the convenience flag tanker Prestige collapsed into two parts that subsequently sank to more than 3000 m at the west margin of the Galician trough. The sinking of the vessel was the final act of a series of large oil spills that, starting on November 13 th , affected the Atlantic and Cantabrian shores of Spain, Portugal and France. Immediately after the disaster, tens of thousands of people volunteered for weeks in 1 Civil Engineering School - University of A Coruña; Campus de Elviña s/n; 15192, A Coruña, SPAIN 2 Corresponding autor contact information: jdelgado@udc.es , phone: +34-981-167000, fax: +34-981-167170