The Waste and Energy Consortium of Menorca visited this week the Ecovidrio glass container treatment plant located in Bunyola, Mallorca, to see first-hand the recycling process of glass containers.

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Responsible for the Waste and Energy Consortium of Menorca’s visit to the recycling plant of glass

The visit, which was conducted jointly with representatives of the Island Council of Mallorca, was attended by Margalida Roig, island director of waste of the Council of Mallorca; Simon Gornés, Minister of Environment and president of the Consortium of Waste and Energy of Menorca and Mateu Ainsa, island director of Environment of the Island Council of Menorca.

This recycling plant, TMA Recicla, is the treatment plant that receives all the packaging recovered from the separate collection carried out by the waste collection services in each town of Menorca.

Participants attended the TMA Recicla facilities to see how glass packaging waste is transformed into a valuable resource that can be almost entirely reincorporated into the production cycle after the treatment phase, accompanied by Roberto Fuentes, area manager of Ecovidrio. This is an automated, sustainable (no water or chemicals are used) and efficient process in which waste glass containers are cleaned of small impurities and crushed to become calcium, a secondary raw material for manufacturing new containers.

During the visit, attendees were able to see how the glass container recycling chain is an effective, efficient and sustainable process. The separate collection of glass containers through the container ensures high-quality recycling, as it hardly presents any improper waste. The high performance of the recycling process and the circular properties of the glass material allow one container to make another the same one, infinitely many times.

It should be noted that the use of recycled glass saves – on average – 53% of CO2 emissions, avoids the extraction of raw materials and reduces energy consumption by approximately 38% since its melting temperature in the furnace is lower.

In the new legislative context marked by ambitious targets for separate collection rates and recycling rates per autonomous community, Ecovidrio has organized this visit to promote collaboration, knowledge and transparency with public administrations at all levels.