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INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING DAY

Óscar Martín: "Packaging recycling continues to make progress. Already 73.7% of the packaging we manage is recycled"...

Óscar Martín: “Packaging recycling continues to advance. “73.7% of the packaging we manage is already recycled”

From Domenech Machinery & Systems, as a manufacturer of industrial machinery for the recycling sector, we want to celebrate International Recycling Day, sharing these encouraging data about packaging recycling in Spain.

In this interview with Óscar Martín, CEO of Ecoembes, he talks about packaging recycling data and takes stock

He asks – What percentage of household packaging waste have we Spaniards recycled in 2014?

Óscar Martín, Ecoembes – Since Ecoembes began its activity 17 years ago, recycling levels of domestic packaging have been increasing year after year. In 2014 we recycled 73.7% of the packaging we managed – 1.3 million tons of packaging – which represented an increase of almost 2 points compared to the 2013 figure. These results would not be a reality without the participation of the citizens, who are really the ones who make them possible by taking their packaging to the yellow and blue containers. However, we want to continue advancing and growing, given that the goal is still to reach 80% recycled packaging by 2020.

Question – Where do these figures leave Spain in the European context?

Óscar Martín, Ecoembes – Well, frankly good, because with these data we are 19 points above the objective of 55% recycling of domestic packaging required by the European Union. We are among the ten main EU countries in this matter. However, the fact that we are ahead of community obligations does not mean that we have already done the work. We are not satisfied. Our country is a reference in packaging recycling and, therefore, our work must also represent an example for other waste flows that still have a lot of progress to make. The future of recycling must involve the landfill option in Spain being a minority.

Question – Beyond these data, how would you define the current X-ray of Ecoembes and packaging recycling in Spain?

Óscar Martín, Ecoembes – We can be optimistic because we demonstrate with results that packaging recycling in our country is a success. Ecoembes develops its activity thanks to the teamwork of many links in a chain, in which the work of the 44 million Spaniards stands out. We have 11,947 member companies and we work with more than 8,000 municipalities. In addition, the recycling infrastructure in Spain has 1,600 collection trucks, 95 sorting plants in operation (54 of them automated), 393 approved recycling facilities and 553,115 containers (357,486 yellow and 195,629 blue) installed on the streets of towns and cities. cities. With all this, we are an example of a public-private collaboration model to follow. We all agree that recycling is one of the daily gestures that citizens have at their disposal that most helps to protect the environment, in addition to representing one of the best examples of the so-called circular economy.

Question – Where is the future of recycling heading?

Óscar Martín, Ecoembes –. The future of recycling must involve, among other issues, actions associated with prevention. Packaging must be increasingly sustainable, thanks to ecodesign, a manufacturing model that reduces the use of raw materials and energy, and helps reduce its environmental impact. Likewise, we must rely on innovation, one of our pillars, which directly affects issues such as selective collection, recycling and recyclability. And, of course, influence environmental education; The future of the planet largely depends on the attitude and awareness of future generations, increasingly more advanced in issues related to environmental care.

Question -And how does all this influence the protection of the environment?

Óscar Martín, Ecoembes – Thanks to this model, in 2014 alone there has been an energy reduction equivalent to 25% of the cars in the city of Madrid, the energy consumption of 31% of the smartphones in Spain or of the annual water consumption of a city of more than 400,000 inhabitants. These are figures that citizens should know, because they are the ones that give meaning to their daily gesture of separating packaging for subsequent recycling, a gesture that allows, year after year, to increase recycling rates and thus contribute to an increasingly more sustainable.

To see the entire interview you can click here

Domenech Machinery & Systems contributes its grain of sand to the recycling sector by building machines for the recycling of different products such as plastics: PET, FILM, AGRICULTURAL FILM, HDPE and others, paper and urban and industrial solid waste.

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