The environmental organization Cleanin collaboration with the Municipality of Loíza and IFCO Recyclingheld its first “recycling pop-up” in said town this Saturday, a free event that seeks to increase recycling in Puerto Rico and educate about the importance of this process.
The initiative is the first of a series of “pop-ups” that will take place in Loíza, once a month. The first event was at the Miguel Fuentes Pinet Stadium, and was open to citizens of Loíza and surrounding towns such as Río Grande, Carolina, Canóvanas and San Juan.
The next of the series of collection eventswhich LimPiaR celebrates thanks to a grant from Ford Environmental Donations, is scheduled for December 14, at the same location.
“People went (to the activity), they brought their materials separately, quite clean and organized. That is good, that means that the education that has been given in the past has been maintained”he indicated Vanessa Acostadirector of the Loíza Recycling Program.
The materials accepted in the “pop-up” were plastic #1 (like plastic bottles), plastic #2 (like detergent bottles), plastic #5 (such as yogurt containers and lids), aluminum and brass (like drink and bean cans) and corrugated cardboard (brown cardboard boxes, without designs or glitter).
This Saturday, 27 pounds of recyclables were recovereddetailed LimPiaR to The New Dayspecifying that this activity is part of a broader initiative that consists of a residential recycling pilot project in the El Cabo community, in Loíza, for the beginning of 2025.
Meanwhile, Acosta commented, by telephone, that the recovered plastic, aluminum and brass was deposited in an industrial recycling container that LimPiaR maintains in Piñones, and the corrugated cardboard was deposited in a Municipal truck, “which took it this week to sell to the IFCO plant in Caguas.”
“People came, they registered to have a database. Then, the person passed through a table for segregation and separation of the material. At that table, they were told if everything was okay, ‘you can put this in the plastic container’ or, ‘look, this plastic can’t be recycled, it’s garbage, and this can’, to raise awareness for the citizen”he highlighted.
At a time when it is estimated that only 7% of materials with potential are recycled in Puerto Rico, Acosta assured that recycling in Loíza has been increasing, while the Municipality continues to invest in initiatives – such as the acquisition of a compactor – to promote the program.
“I understand that people are educated and they have to be updated. It’s not that we have to re-educate. People want to recycle, what they need is to be kept up to date on what material they can and what not (recycle). They don’t know, for example, that shoes do the same damage as throwing a tire, because the sole of the shoe is rubber. Therefore, the textile system (that the Municipality has) is good, so that a pair of shoes does not reach the dump”he shared.