Mojácar Council Tourism Councillor Emmanuel Agüero, Concejal de Turismo has held a press conference at which he informed the media about the locality’s intention to take part once again in the Ecovidrio 2022 campaign.

Ecovidrio is a non-profit entity dedicated to managing the selective collection of glass containers in Spain. It stands out for guaranteeing high-quality recycling, as well as for investing in plans and resources aimed at increasing glass recycling and mobilising the public through awareness-raising campaigns, also promoting prevention and the eco-design of packaging.

It its 2021 edition Mojácar obtained its Green Flag, which was presented by the Secretary of State for the Environment, coming in first place among all the Andalucía municipalities, managing to rescue 70,000 kilos of grass between July and August alone. In the 2021 campaign, 127 local authorities in up to five autonomous communities and more than 14,000 hotel establishments aimed for one of these Green Flags. Only in Andalucía, 41 municipalities also competed for this award.

For 2022 there will be 43 Andalucía municipalities that will strive for the Ecovidrio hospitality sector Green Flag, which have been joined by Mojácar Council and several of the locality’s hotel establishments. Together they will try and increase the levels of selective collection of glass containers and mobilise the sector to obtain yet again the Green Flag and revalidate it in this edition.

For Emmanuel Agüero, Mojácar’s intention goes beyond obtaining a Green Flag: “for us it is important to encourage participation in recycling, especially at the times of year when there is a lot of activity in the hospitality sector which results in a greater use of glass. The idea is to recover the greatest amount of glass and to collaborate with the sustainability of the environment.”

A third of the glass containers put into circulation are consumed in summer and 25% of this is directly generated in the hospitality sector, hence its involvement is key to generating a real transition towards a more circular and decarbonised model.

Green Flags is established as one of the key initiatives of the Ecovidrio alliance with the hospitality sector. In fact, at national level, this campaign runs in 144 coastal municipalities in five different autonomous regions, with the participation of nearly 15,000 establishments.

Thanks to this movement, in 2021, 31,045 of glass containers were collected between the 127 participating coastal localities, the subsequent recycling of which avoided the emission of 17,700 tonnes of CO2, much like removing 8,000 cars from circulation for a year.