SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 17 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The use of the yellow container in the Canary Islands has grown by 40% from 2017 to 2021, which reflects that the recycling of containers is a settled habit among Canarian society. Thus, during the past year, each citizen deposited 13.3 kilos of waste in the 12,308 yellow containers that are available to the citizens of the Canary Archipelago, the equivalent of lowering the bag of containers once every five days, approximately.
In the case of the blue container, the increase in its use in the last five years has been 12.6%. During the past year, each Canarian separated and deposited 13.9 kilos of paper and cardboard containers in the 9,655 blue containers that are located on public roads for recycling, which means one bag every ten days.
The Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, has highlighted this positive trend in recent years in terms of recycling and stressed that these figures show the commitment of Canarian citizens with the main values of the circular economy in homes, from the sense of individual responsibility.
In the same way, he recalled that “the separation of waste is equally as important as its reduction in order to reduce the amount of waste that we deposit in the different containers together.”
For his part, Ángel Hervella, director of Local and Regional Management at Ecoembes, stressed that these data are a reflection of the effort that Canarian society as a whole is carrying out in terms of recycling and circularity. The Canary Islands have made a qualitative leap in this habit, achieving a 40% increase in the use of the yellow container in just 5 years: there is will and desire to continue advancing”.
In addition to through the containers on the street, the domestic containers were also collected in other spaces, such as in the more than 3,400 recycling points located in places of great concurrence (offices, establishments in the HORECA sector and sports centers, among others) ; and in the urban waste plants, from the rest container.
Thus, in 2021 alone, the Canary Islands sent a total of 79,507 tons of plastic, metal, brik, paper and cardboard packaging to recycling facilities, which contributed significantly to the 1,570,513 tons of packaging sent to recycling facilities nationwide. In this way, the emission of 2.05 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere was avoided, the equivalent of what is emitted by more than one million heaters per year. In addition, 20.50 million m3 of water and 5.27 million MWH of energy were saved.
Collaboration, a fundamental factor to continue improving in recycling
Achieving these data is only possible with the active participation of all the actors that are part of the recycling cycle, as well as the implementation of various initiatives and projects to promote the selective collection of packaging.
At this point, the implementation of the RECICLOS Return and Reward System (SDR) in the Canary Islands stands out. This SDR, aimed at promoting the recycling of beverage cans and plastic bottles through sustainable and social rewards for recyclers, represents a further step in the evolution of the current system managed by Ecoembes. RECICLOS is present in 316 yellow Granadilla de Abona containers, to which technology has been incorporated so that the user can receive rewards when they go to recycle, as well as in various shopping centers on the islands that have RECICLOS machines.
Likewise, throughout 2021, Ecoembes, Canarian city councils and councils worked together to promote the adoption of an increasingly responsible conscience among society, developing up to 20 mobilization and awareness campaigns; joining 1,400 establishments in the HORECA sector to ‘Ecohosteleros’, a project that seeks to raise awareness of recycling, responsible consumption and circularity in bars and restaurants; or installing new containers in order to bring recycling closer to the Canarian neighbors.
Looking to the future, in 2022 Ecoembes together with the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildos and the Canarian Federation of Municipalities have launched the Canarias Circular Plan with the aim of improving the selective collection and recovery of packaging waste on the islands, with the that will add more than 700 new containers and projects will be developed aimed at improving collection outside the home and training and raising awareness among citizens.
