The Economic and Social Council (CES) has unanimously approved the Opinion on the Preliminary Draft of the Canary Islands Law on Circular Economy, a document that highlights the convenience of adding the obligation of administrations to promote and identify jobs related to the Circular Economy and promote the necessary training for the performance that this activity generates.
Incentivizing training with a commitment to employability so that workers can adapt their skills and abilities to environmental challenges is another of the CES's proposals. The objective is to guarantee a just transition towards the green economy and the creation of quality jobs and, for this, it will be necessary to revise all education and training programs, betting on the participation of the most representative business and union organizations in that process.
"The Canary Islands generates an average of 578 kilos of waste per person per year, according to 2019 data, occupying the third position in the ranking of communities that generate the most waste, that is, more than half a ton of waste per year", the CES states.
Therefore, the Council recommends that a public-private collaboration space be articulated, in which the most representative economic and social agents involved in the promotion and development of this approach to the use of resources and experts from the academic field can participate.
It also suggests including the strengthening of the agri-food sector and the promotion of business activity related to the bioeconomy of high added value to attract companies to the Canary Islands. It refers to entities that convert renewable biological resources and waste into bioproducts and bioenergy.
It also insists on the importance of promoting green purchases, that is, the acquisition of products that help conserve natural resources, save energy and avoid the generation of waste.
Finally, in relation to the first transitional provision of the preliminary draft law, the CES considers the period of two years to be excessive for the local entities of the Canary Islands to adapt their ordinances to the provisions of the preliminary draft law regarding their powers in matters of waste and proposes that this period be reduced to one year from the entry into force of the regulation.
As a whole, the CES shares the objectives pursued by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the regional Executive with this regulation, aimed at actively promoting the recycling of waste generated in the Canary Islands, both by production processes and by human activity. It should be noted that this opinion was issued by the plenary session of the CES on May 12, prior to the renewal of the Council, published in the BOC on the 19th.
