Nieves Rey Hernandez She is the Director of Communication and Marketing at Ecoembes. Graduated in Advertising and Public Relations, with a Master’s degree in Corporate and Reputational Communication from the Complutense University of Madrid, she has developed a large part of her career in this organization, where she is “happy” to make her work “something with which she can help the environment.” By 2025 he asks “to continue enjoying the small things and, of course, natural environments free of garbage.”
—The year 2025 arrives with legislative developments for waste, such as the new Waste and Circular Economy Law. What changes land?
—Yes, 2025 will be loaded with intense regulatory activity whose main purpose is to achieve an ambitious circular economy that will force us all to get our act together and accelerate processes to achieve the set objectives. For example, starting January 1, companies will be required to manage all packaging (domestic, commercial and industrial) that they put on the market. Until now, this obligation was limited to domestic packaging, which we citizens purchase and place in the yellow and blue containers, but in a few days it will also be extended to packaging for commercial and industrial use, marking a milestone in comprehensive waste management. in our country. Not only that: we will also have to make it easy for the consumer, indicating on the labeling where the containers should be deposited or applying mandatory eco-design measures that facilitate recycling, such as caps attached to the containers. In short, next year will mark a before and after for the entire society, which will force us to rethink how we do things and how we should do them.
—There will be new obligations for companies and municipalities. What benefits will they bring? What changes will citizens notice?
—One of the main changes is that we will begin to recycle things that until now were not compulsorily recycled, such as textile waste or organic waste, the brown container that has begun to be on the streets for a few years. In fact, there will be an update of garbage rates throughout the country that will necessarily evolve to payment per generation, incentivizing citizens who are recyclers and penalizing those who are not. In this sense, city councils will have to offer a good service to citizens, making it easy for them.
—Because, precisely, how aware are citizens?
—Fortunately, citizens are increasingly aware and concerned about including habits in their daily lives that reduce their impact on the planet. Recycling has become one of the most consolidated environmental gestures by Spaniards and is present in four out of five homes, according to the latest studies we have done. But these figures should not lead us to conformity: there are still those who do not recycle or those who, when recycling, do not do it completely well. Waste from the yellow container such as cans or sprays continue to raise doubts, not to mention that we still find many natural environments with abandoned waste… all of this requires us to put greater effort into information and awareness.
—Could we speak of a significant change since Ecoembes was born until now?
-Of course. In these more than 25 years we have gone from not recycling because colored containers did not even exist to this gesture being one of the main environmental habits of Spaniards. To illustrate with data: in 2023, 3.5% more packaging was recycled compared to the previous year and 12% more than five years ago. Furthermore, we have achieved this in three generations (grandparents, parents and children) and we have taken packaging recycling beyond homes. Now it is possible to do it anywhere (health centers, universities, transport stations…). All of this is not the sole work of Ecoembes, of course, there are many actors who make it possible every day with their conviction and desire to change the world for the better. I’m talking about town councils, companies, citizens, teachers, consumer organizations, housewives, students… more and more of us want to achieve real change, those of us who are part of an unstoppable movement in which circularity is the usual tone.
—And speaking of companies, are they really committed or do they just say they are? Do your policies really integrate sustainability?
—They do it more and more and to a greater extent. It is in companies where we see and will see a more active change, because sustainability has begun to permeate their strategies and the lines of action related to actions of this type are already something almost mandatory in many of them. As for packaging, there are already many companies that are committed to eco-design, that is, creating them taking into account sustainability criteria: that they are more easily recycled, that they include the minimum possible material, that they incorporate recycled material, that they invest in reusable packaging. and refillable…
—But there is still a lot to do in general.
—We recycle a lot and we do it well, but circularity goes far beyond recycling. The great challenge is reduction and reuse; That is where we have to be able to change our consumption habits, which for a long time we have oriented towards “use and throw away”, to achieve a circular system from which we are still very far away. That is the challenge we have now as a society. At Ecoembes we talk about how we want to achieve a future without waste. And, precisely in times like Christmas, where we let ourselves be carried away by consumerism, achieving that future becomes complicated. That is why we must carry this circular attitude to every day and every decision, working with honesty and transparency to achieve it.
—And how do you reach all types of audiences? Young people, adult population…
—Caring for the environment does not exclude anyone and, therefore, we have to look for ways to adapt messages and actions to different audiences to ensure we reach everyone. From the Communication and Marketing area we invest a lot of effort in creating almost personalized messages based on the audience, medium to which we address, time of year, platform on which they are going to be consumed… For some time now, “coffee for all “It stopped serving and we do a very careful segmentation of our messages to reach citizens almost by land, sea and air. This is something we do in our projects, such as Naturaliza or Libera, but also in the campaigns and content we send to the media.
—What advances will we see in waste management in the coming years?
—The advances of the coming years will go hand in hand with technology and innovation, which will help us improve the processes and service provided to citizens. In fact, we already have the first 4.0 plant in Spain, in which artificial vision, the internet of things, big data or blockchain, among other tools, are applied to make the packaging separation process more efficient. Furthermore, in the future we may see containers with technology that tells us how full they are, and that truck routes will be organized based on this. In addition, innovation will also change our way of relating to citizens and awareness campaigns.
—You defend the importance of innovation to achieve a world without waste, but how do you do it within Ecoembes itself?
—Innovation is part of our DNA, it is a basic pillar to implement all that social listening that we do and, also, to achieve the recycling objectives set by legislation. Proof of this is TheCircularLab, a pioneering center for innovation in the circular economy that we created 7 years ago and from which we study the recycling of the future, which also involves achieving the packaging of the future. From there, in collaboration with a broad ecosystem of entrepreneurs and startups, we study and bring to life projects aimed at digitizing the recycling habit.
—Do you really think a completely circular world is possible?
—I want to think that it is possible, but it is going to be tremendously complicated. But this is going to require sacrifices and becoming truly aware of what we do and what we don’t. Consume responsibly, prioritize the use of public transport, give a second life to the products we have at home, avoid food waste, take care of natural environments, educate the little ones in environmental values… this is having a circular attitude and we can apply it in a simple way.