«The objective is for Spain to become among the five European countries that recycle the most. Now, according to Eurostat, we are in the top 10. This new strategic plan involves working more intensely to recover more, to recycle more and to increase circularity,” says Nieves Rey, Director of Communication and Marketing at Ecoembes. “The big goal is a future without waste,” she emphasizes.
The 2024-2026 Action Plan has its sights set on 2030, so in this first period concrete actions will be carried out to achieve these objectives and the foundations will also be laid for the next stage.
Technology to recover
The first thing is to “recover more of what we recover and recycle more of what we have achieved until now,” explains Rey. This part involves “working with administrations to analyze how the contribution to recycling can be increased. We have sensorized containers, digitalized collection, adequate trucks, but there is still room for improvement and to see if changes need to be made in the collection systems, in the situation of the containers, etc.”
Likewise, they are evaluating and studying the possibility of implementing a smart card that can be used to open the containers “so that it is possible to know how much each person recycles and prioritize them with a reduction in the garbage rate. “In various areas they are doing it and they have good collection results.”
Ecodesign and circularity
Another objective is to “improve the separation of different materials.” Because there are many new ones that weren't there before, like compostable bags. “There we are working to design the plants in a way that separates the materials even better.” In turn, this better separation will result in greater circularity. «There are many companies that want to do better, and it is essential that there is enough material so that these containers can return to the circuit. There is demand.
In fact, one of the specific approaches of Ecoembes' strategy is to “work more intensely with companies, give them proposals and solutions so that packaging is 100% recycled and recyclable.”
At Ecoembes “we know that by designing a container in a certain way you already solve many recyclability problems. It is a service that we can provide to our member companies, which number 15,000.
New work areas
At the same time, given the new regulatory framework by which businesses will be obliged to manage their packaging waste, Ecoembes is going to expand its work area, and will not only deal with household waste. «We are now in the start-up process. And we have to do it through a lot of collaboration with other waste management systems that are also going to work in this area.
In this sense, Ecoembes aims to expand and diversify the service offering to companies “so that it is comprehensive. Help them in the total management of their waste, from the mandatory registration in the registry, so that we are like a one-stop shop for them.
Liberates and garbage
«We have to continue being a leading country in prevention, mobilization and motivation work. And Libera is a key project to work with citizens, with the 650,000 people who have joined. A project that is not only about collecting garbage from natural environments “also about identifying black spots and working with administrations to eradicate them.”