Throughout June, residents of Santa Cruz de Tenerife significantly increased their use of containers designated for organic waste.
According to a statement from the council, the total weight of organic waste deposited in these containers rose by 26% in June compared to the same month in 2024, amounting to a total of 169,460 kilograms.
The municipal authorities highlight “the upward trend in proper separation” as well as the “proper identification and use of the system by participating households,” as 98% of the waste deposited in these brown containers is indeed organic.
This is the fifth container, the brown one, introduced in 2021 to collect exclusively organic waste from certain households, managed by Valoriza Servicios Medioambientales, the company in charge of waste collection services in the capital.
As the council emphasises, the practice of separating organic waste is “key to converting it into compost,” which is a natural fertiliser that improves gardens and agricultural operations.
“The waste placed in the brown containers is transferred to specialised plants where it is transformed into this sustainable resource that reduces the use of chemical fertilisers and promotes more environmentally-friendly agriculture,” they explain.
This, they add, helps to reduce “the amount of waste that ends up in landfills without a chance of being recycled and significantly decreases greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane, thus contributing to mitigating climate change,” they state in the announcement.
In light of this data, the Councillor for Public Services, Carlos Tarife, assures that “we will continue working to extend this collection to the rest of the districts, improving the service and information support at each stage.”
For the time being, the service is provided through around 400 containers already operational in the Salud-La Salle and Centro-Ifara districts, with plans to soon extend it to the rest of the city, thus completing the gradual implementation, they report.
To facilitate community participation in this system, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council makes available to citizens an organic kit, which includes a key to open the brown containers.
It can be requested free of charge at the Citizen Attention Office, located in Plaza Curtidos Hermanos Dorta, from Monday to Friday, between 08:00 and 15:00 hours.
