Last year, each citizen of the islands deposited about 108 containers in green containers, the highest figure in the whole country, according to data provided by Ecovidrio.
“We are the autonomous community that recycles the most glass in the whole of Spain,” said the director general of Circular Economy, Energy Transition and Climate Change, Diego Víu, during the presentation of the data collected by the non-profit organisation Ecovidrio, represented by the regional manager Roberto Fuentes, on the selective collection of green containers in 2023.
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The Balearic Islands broke records for selective glass collection in 2023
“We can be very proud to say that we lead the ranking of glass recycling by communities” added the general manager “it means that we are a committed society with awareness and a sense of responsibility, because we are on the right track and because we are all working together for the sustainability of our environment and in the fight against climate change”.
According to data provided by Ecovidrio, last year each citizen of the islands deposited about 108 containers in green containers (about 32 kg/IPH), which is the highest figure in the whole country. 2023 was a record year with the collection of 52,245 tonnes of glass containers, all of which were subsequently treated at the TMA Recicla plant.
The report launches another very positive fact: thanks to the recycling of glass containers carried out on the islands, the emission of 30,300 t of CO₂ was avoided, an amount equivalent to removing more than 14,100 cars from the road during a year, and the citizens of Palma place the capital among the five that use glass containers the most.
By islands, Ibiza leads the collection of glass containers with 43.9 kg/IPH, followed by Formentera with 42.3 kg/IPH, Mallorca with 26.1 kg/IPH and Menorca with 23.4 kg/IPH.
The manager of Ecovidrio, Roberto Fuentes, stressed that “these excellent results are possible thanks to the close collaboration of the public administration and Ecovidrio. Undoubtedly, the Balearic Islands have a Government committed to recycling and sustainability that, in favour of the environment, is open to dialogue and always willing to implement more ambitious plans to improve the results of selective collection”.
Today, the Balearic Islands have 5,485 green bins distributed throughout the territory, 1 for every 218 inhabitants. Thus, during 2023, Balearic citizens have deposited in the containers about 490,197 glass containers per day and about 340 containers per minute.
Environmental benefits of glass packaging recycling
The recycling of glass packaging is a key element in the fight against climate change and the decarbonisation of the economy. In 2023, thanks to the recycling of glass packaging on the islands, it has been possible to: avoid the emission of 30,300 t of CO₂, an amount equivalent to removing more than 14,100 cars from the road for a year; save 37,300 MW h of energy, equivalent to the energy consumption of all the hospitals in the region for more than 4 months, or avoid the extraction of more than 62,600 t of raw materials (sand or limestone), a weight equivalent to 6 times that of the Eiffel Tower.