The president of the Association of Municipalities of the Western Costa del Sol, José Antonio Mena, accompanied by the RSU delegate, Juan Luis Villalón, and by Jesús Gutiérrez, zone manager for Ecoglass, today presented a new edition of the Green Flags Movement, an initiative that aims to reward the efforts of hotel establishments in the area and the activism of coastal municipalities for the green transition in a context marked by the recovery from the pandemic.
The municipalities of Casares, Estepona, Fuengirola, Manilva, Marbella, Mijas and Torremolinos, in addition to a total of 913 catering establishments from the Costa del Sol, with the idea of increasing the levels of selective collection of glass containers and mobilizing the hospitality sector. This was explained by the president of the Commonwealth at the same time that he highlighted the importance of this action.
For his part, Villalón thanked Ecovidrio for the “necessary and important” initiative in the age in which we find ourselves. «It is aimed especially at hospitality shops and town halls. A way to encourage bars, restaurants and beach bars to further increase recycling data on the Costa del Sol. In terms of recycling, the data is very important, being above the Andalusian average. This type of campaign helps us to continue growing and is synonymous with the fact that things are being done well and there is awareness among citizens«, Declared the RSU delegate, and stressed that 52 percent of glass container recycling It comes from the hospitality industry.
Five years carrying out this campaign that returns, after a difficult year, stronger than ever. “We are going to try to get the municipalities to compete for that green flag that there are only three in all of Andalusia and nine in all of Spain. The main objective is to make it easier for the hospitality industry to recycle glass and for this reactivation to be carried out in a sustainable way«Added Jesús Gutiérrez, highlighting that in summer a third of the glass produced throughout the year is generated. The campaign has three lines: objective to growth town councils, to facilitate the recycling of glass for the hospitality industry and it is going to request activation of town councils through social networks to encourage recycling.
These three lines are more specified in the specific scoring system that Ecovidrio has created to distinguish with the Green Flag those most committed to recycling and sustainability, with criteria such as:
• Increased volume of selective collection of glass containers compared to the previous year.
• The percentage of local hospitality participant and their collaboration to achieve the objectives.
• The commitment acquired by the local councils to promote the campaign among the hotel and catering industry and disseminate it to citizens and visitors.
On the other hand, the municipalities that manage to increase their glass container collection rates, despite not being the ones that have increased that figure the most, will receive a unique recognition from Ecovidrio for the effort made and to improve awareness in their locality. .
Green flags, a movement for green recovery
Green Flags is consolidated as one of the key initiatives of the Ecovidrio alliance with the hospitality industry at a time marked by the recovery from the pandemic and the need for a green transition. In fact, at the national level, this campaign is developed in 128 coastal municipalities, from five different autonomous communities and has the participation of 14,000 catering establishments.
Almuñécar, Marbella, Pals, Tossa de Mar, Benidorm, Denia, Palma de Mallorca and San Javier were winners of the last edition and will compete to revalidate the recognition. In the last edition, Banderas Verdes managed to raise the collection of glass containers to 48,226 t, 11.2 percent more than in the previous year. In addition, thanks to the recycling of this quantity, it was possible to avoid the emission of 24,514 tons of CO2, such as removing 11,446 cars from circulation for a year.