By ACN
Since the implementation of separate collection in the Canary Islands, about 55,000 tons of packaging waste have been recycled, of which 33% have been recycled in the last year.
This was stated this Tuesday by the Minister of the Environment and Territorial Planning, Domingo Berriel, and the general director of Ecoembes, Melchor Ordóñez, during the signing of the renewal of the Framework Collaboration Agreement between the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and Ecoembes. The Deputy Minister of the Environment, Milagros Luis, and the General Director of Environmental Quality, José Alberto Díaz-Estébanez, were also present at the event.
This new Agreement, which renews the one signed by both institutions in November 1999, aims to achieve a quality collection of light packaging and paper/cardboard and increase recycling levels, taking into account the specific conditions of the Canary Islands, the Ministry specifies in a note.
The new agreement contemplates the implementation of a new financing system for the implementation of separate collection, where the economic allocation will not only depend on the kilograms collected, but also on the number of containers installed in each municipality, thus establishing a fixed payment linked to the allocation and a variable payment linked to the quantity collected.
Currently, 92 percent of the Canary Islands municipalities (80) are adhered to the Framework Agreement (99% of the population) and, specifically, 85 percent of the citizens (1,630,321) already have a separate collection service for the recovery of light packaging (plastic packaging, cans and briks) and paper/cardboard in their municipalities.
The new agreement will optimize the quantity and quality of the separate collection, which will allow to increase the yields of the four packaging classification plants operating in the Archipelago (located in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura), indicates the Ministry.
Thus, it foresees that in 2006, the full performance of these selection plants, the gradual increase in the implementation of the yellow container, as well as the realization of citizen awareness campaigns similar to those developed during this year, will mean an important increase in recycling figures.
After the signing of the agreement, Domingo Berriel valued the data provided as proof of "the high awareness of the Canary Islands population in the care of their resources, a citizen contribution that has placed the Archipelago above the national average in terms of separation of some type of waste".
For the Minister of the Environment these data "demonstrate that the Canary Islands society is an aware society, which thinks of its resources as an asset. More and more, we are more supportive and aware of how important it is to take care of what we have".
The general director of Ecoembes, Melchor Ordóñez, highlighted the effort of citizens and public administrations, which make the Canary Islands occupy "one of the first places in terms of the quality of separate collection". "We are sure that the per capita collection figures will reach, thanks to this new agreement and with continuous improvement, figures higher than the current ones," he said.
WASTE TO FILL 82 STADIUMS
In 2004, more than 1,177,000 tons of packaging have been recovered, an amount equivalent to 82 soccer stadiums such as the Santiago Bernabéu or the Nou Camp full of packaging, which have not ended up in landfills, indicates the Ministry.
It also recalls that Ecoembes is a non-profit company created in November 1996, in anticipation of Law 11/97 on Packaging and Packaging Waste and that in the seven years of operation of the Integrated Management System (SIG) in Spain, it has been possible to recover more than 5 million tons of packaging that have not ended up in landfills.
Currently, more than 11,800 companies are adhered to the SIG. Of these, 50.1 percent belong to the food sector, 7.5 percent to the hygiene and beauty sector, 7.5 percent to beverages, 4.9 percent to the cleaning and maintenance sector and 30 percent to other sectors.
During the year 2004, the SIG organized by Ecoembes, in collaboration with citizens and public administrations, recovered more than 1,177,000 tons of light packaging and paper and cardboard, which have not gone to landfills.
Currently more than 40.6 million Spaniards have at their disposal blue containers for the separate collection of paper and cardboard, and more than 37 million can contribute to the recycling of light packaging by having yellow containers near their homes. A plastic container takes more than 200 years to degrade in landfills, a metal can more than 100, and a glass jar more than 1,000 years.
The collection of cardboard and paper packaging is carried out through blue containers and the collection of light packaging (plastic packaging, cans and briks) is carried out through yellow igloo-type containers, both located on public roads in the Canary Islands municipalities.
The materials from the separate collection of light packaging are transported to the selection plants available on the islands, where they are classified by materials to be subsequently delivered to recyclers who will convert it into new raw material with which to manufacture different products, such as textile garments (fleece linings), construction material (pipes and carpets), street furniture (benches and bollards) and new metal packaging, among others.
As for the paper/cardboard collected in the blue containers, it is transferred to recovery centers where it is first cleaned and conditioned, operations after which it is sent to the corresponding recycling plants with which boxes or newsprint are manufactured.
