SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 19 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Nearly 2,000 people have mobilized in 2022 against garbage in the Canary Islands thanks to the Libera Project, SEO/BirdLife in alliance with Ecoembes, and more than 30,000 people in Spain. This is the highest figure recorded at the national level since this project was launched in 2017 with the aim of raising awareness and mobilizing society about the amount of waste generated and the impact it has if it is abandoned in nature.
This is one of the main data collected in the Annual Report of the Libera Project that has been presented this week and in which all the advances in the fight against garbage are highlighted thanks to the work carried out during the past year.
Thus, and if the data from 2017 are taken into account, Libera has continued to grow and has managed to consolidate a network that already consists of 130,000 volunteers and 2,200 entities (274 more than in 2021) including organizations, companies, public administrations, scientific entities or local groups, which have been joining this movement to fight against garbage and, together, work on solutions to this environmental problem. In addition, in the Canary Islands, the Libera Project has the support of the Department of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the regional government.
A NETWORK AGAINST TRASH
One of Libera’s milestones is having woven a network of collaborating entities, where one of the fundamental pillars is public administrations. In 2022, 81 new municipalities from all over Spain have joined the #MiPuebloSinBasuraleza program, which already has 531 in total (20 in the Canary Islands), to value their natural heritage and raise awareness among their neighbors and visitors about the impact of the abandonment of waste in their surroundings.
Libera has also acted this year in six Hydrographic Confederations (Cantabrian, Duero, Ebro, Tagus, Segura and Guadiana) and 297 natural spaces (seven of them National Parks: Garajonay, Guadarrama, Monfragüe, Picos de Europa, Cabrera, Teide and Atlantic Islands ), collaborating with the organizations in charge of their management and with the autonomous communities that host them, to make their visitors aware of the problem of rubbish and the importance of prevention, and providing materials, tools and training to the professionals who work in they.
In addition, Libera has a network of research, educational, social or sports entities, the Libera Alliances, which channel their work through different joint projects such as the fight against abandonment and removal of 40 m3 of ghost nets (‘ghost fads’ ) of Alnitak in collaboration with the Fundación Reina Sofía, the network of marine vigilantes of the Oceánidas organization, whose divers removed 17 tons of garbage from the Spanish coast, the sampling and analysis of microplastics in 30 rivers thanks to the work of scientists from the entity Man and Territory or the removal of 4.6 tons of large waste from the Posidonia meadows of the Mediterranean through the alliance with SUBMON.
The prevention of the abandonment of waste in nature through environmental education is also key and the Libera network reaches the educational community through the Aulas Libera program, which aims to promote the fight against garbage and create a commitment to natural environments among students. During the 2021/2022 academic year alone, more than 600 new classrooms throughout Spain (34 in the Canary Islands) have signed up for the initiative, thus allowing more than 8,000 new students to learn about the problem of abandoned waste that surrounds them and find solutions to it. through gamification and didactic actions on the nearest natural terrain.
Among the components of this great network, the 129 private companies that have participated in the movement promoted by Libera in 2022 also stand out. With these, there are already 250 companies from all productive sectors that have joined one of the collection campaigns and fostered awareness of this environmental problem among its employees since 2017.
NEARLY 100 POINTS IN THE CANARY ISLANDS FREE OF GARBAGE
Thanks to the commitment and work of all those who are part of the Libera network, in 2022 it was possible to collect and classify more than 500 kg of garbage in nearly 100 points in the Canary Islands (120 tons in more than 1,700 points throughout Spain), both in the large collection ‘1m2 against garbage’ which, as every year, took place in June, as well as in one of the ‘1m2’ citizen science campaigns in different environments (fluvial, marine and terrestrial) that Libera organizes throughout the year.
These campaigns made it possible to characterize more than 211,000 pieces of waste abandoned in nature (close to 3,000 in the Canary Islands alone), among which, for yet another year, cigarette butts stand out as the most found piece of waste in natural environments (representing more than 14% of all garbage ), followed by drink cans, plastic pieces of less than 2.5 cm or wet wipes, among others. This information has been collected thanks to the technology of apps such as e-Litter, MARNOBA or the Basuraleza App, and it is essential to identify the most abundant types of litter in each environment and launch adapted solutions and awareness campaigns.
In addition, all the data collected is available in the ‘Barometer of Garbage’ and has been integrated into the database of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), thus helping to generate greater knowledge. about garbage in Spain.
“From the Libera Project we are clear that the fight against garbage can not focus only on eliminating the waste that we generate and abandon in the field, but rather that we need to move towards a change in the production and consumption model that is more respectful of natural resources. In 2017, we started with a motto that I want to remember today because it expresses very well what we have always wanted: You have to change ‘don’t take it, it’s rubbish’ for ‘don’t throw it away, it’s rubbish'”, says Asunción Ruiz, director SEO/BirdLife executive.
“Libera has managed to put the garbage problem where it belongs and we are very proud of the social response received in these years and of that great network that has not stopped growing. But we know that there is still a lot to be done. Each hand, each awareness, each illusion that joins us makes us stronger and, for this reason, we want to continue adding more administrations, more companies, more organizations, because from each kitchen, each place of purchase, each company, classroom or laboratory, we can be protagonists of change. and be part of this great movement to defeat the garbage that is Libera”, adds Rosa Trigo, CEO of Ecoembes.
