Forty local entities (town halls and groupings of municipalities) from thirteen autonomous communities received last Thursday recognition for the excellence of their management of the selective collection of paper and cardboard, in the 2019th edition of Blue Bow Ties. Internationally recognized with the European Prize for Paper Recycling, the program of ASPAPER continues to grow, with more local entities awarded and the number of those obtaining the highest recognition increasing by almost 50%.
The delivery of the Blue Pajaritas 2019 took place in Madrid, in a ceremony chaired by Teresa Ribera, Minister for the Ecological Transition, and Jordi Mercader, President of ASPAPEL. Teresa Ribera affirmed that the Government is implementing the regulatory changes that facilitate compliance with the objectives set by the European Community. In this sense, the minister announced that she will soon present a draft Circular Economy Strategy, which will allow Spain to be placed in the "green belt" in terms of waste collection and recycling.
The president of ASPAPEL, Jordi Mercader, highlighted that “the management of the municipal selective collection of paper and cardboard for recycling in our country is immersed in a powerful dynamic of continuous improvement, of which the winners today are a clear example … /… From the paper industry, we contribute our great recycling capacity, only surpassed in Europe by Germany and France ». Finally, Jordi Mercader focused on “a current issue such as incorporating the Circular Economy package into national legislation, allowing flows (such as commercial paper and cardboard packaging) that work well with private management, keep doing ”.
The town councils Pajaritas Azules 2019
In Pajaritas Azules 2019, the recycling elite is made up of nineteen local entities that have obtained the highest recognition with three Blue Pajaritas, fourteen that have obtained two Blue Pajaritas and seven that have received one. By autonomous communities, Andalusia and Catalonia top the ranking with eight award-winning entities each, followed by Castilla y León with six, the Community of Madrid with five and the Basque Country with three. Castilla-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands complete the table with two and Principado de Asturias, Aragón, Canarias, Galicia, La Rioja and Comunidad Foral de Navarra with one each.
Andrea Orallo, director of the Pajaritas Azules program at ASPAPEL, thanked the local entities, the true protagonists of the program, for their commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. "For quality recycling," said Andrea Orallo, "it is necessary to reduce the level of improprieties in blue containers (plastics, organic matter and mostly textile), which has environmental and economic consequences and makes the final recycling of the collected material difficult" .
Pajaritas Azules is an annual program of advice, evaluation and recognition of the quality of municipal management in selective collection for the recycling of paper and cardboard, focused on continuous improvement.
