Almost half of Spaniards are close to running out of space in recycling bins

March 18th 2021

A new study of D. S. Smith shows that households are running out of space for recycle correctly.

The increase in online purchases and the time we spend at home have caused the containers to be overflowing, so much so that 45% of Spaniards claim to have run out of space in their recycling bins on more than one occasion. According to DS Smith, our country's recycling infrastructure is not prepared to cope with the increasing volume of domestic recycling.

DS Smith points out that, as we observe how more and more packaging arrives at our homes, we must ensure that we have the appropriate infrastructure to deal with recycling.

The study shows that this increase is due to two long-term trends, both accelerated by the pandemic. 59% of Spaniards say that their recycling has increased because they are at home much longer, and almost 40% of those surveyed blame the increase in online purchases of their overflowing containers.

In addition, the research carried out by DS Smith has revealed that 62% of Spaniards consider that their recycling bins should be larger and almost a quarter of those surveyed (22%) admit to having thrown their recyclable waste into another container when the correct one was full, meaning these will likely end up in a landfill or incinerated.

The main items that respondents claimed to have recycled the most since the Covid-19 crisis began are: online shopping packaging (45%), take away food packaging (3 2%) and toilet paper rolls (32%).

88% of those surveyed say they are concerned about the impact of excess waste on the environment. Many are also concerned about infrastructure, with more than half of those surveyed (53%) concerned that their recycling is not being managed properly and ends up in a landfill or is incinerated. Almost 8 in 10 (77%) respondents agree that we urgently need more information about what we can and cannot recycle.

Javier Innerarity, operations director of DS Smith Recycling Iberia has pointed out: “Although a great effort is being made to recycle from home, one of the keys to achieving the European recycling targets is the quality of the materials that arrive at the recycling plants . While Spain needs a recycling infrastructure It is vital that consumers have the necessary information to be able to segregate the materials correctly at source, and thus ensure that the quality of the raw material collected is optimal for subsequent recycling. ».

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