Spanish city launches campaign to boost glass recycling in Horeca sector
Key takeaways
- Alicante has partnered with Ecovidrio to boost glass recycling across nearly 2,000 Horeca businesses.
- The campaign includes on-site visits, surveys, and installation of larger-capacity recycling containers.
- The city builds on strong 2024 glass recycling results, with 6.7 million kg of glass recycled overall and 18.7 kg per capita.
The Alicante City Council, Spain, has accelerated efforts to boost glass recycling among local Horeca establishments. The city has partnered with Ecovidrio, the Spanish EPR glass management organization, to drive the initiative forward.
The campaign aims to support close to 2,000 Horeca businesses with on-site visits and special collection containers.
Alicante’s councillor for Street Cleaning and Waste Management, Rafael Alemañ, says: “The hospitality sector generates approximately 50% of single-use glass containers, so its collaboration is key to increasing the separate collection of glass containers in the city and meeting recycling targets.”
“Therefore, advancing the implementation of sustainable practices in the sector represents a significant improvement in the fight against climate change and for the city.”
Alemañ highlights “the well-functioning” door-to-door glass collection system implemented in Alicante’s city center, which includes 200 participating establishments. He notes Ecovidrio’s encouragement of glass collection among hospitality establishments in the rest of the city.
As part of the campaign, environmental educators will conduct surveys and interviews with “a large number” of the Horeca businesses to better understand their needs. Ecovidrio will offer business-oriented information on proper recycling practices and the social, economic, and environmental benefits of recycling glass containers.
The city will install additional special containers with wider openings where necessary to allow the recycling of larger quantities of glass within the EcoVadis strategic plan.
Building on success
The city of Alicante’s 2024 data shows that its residents recycled over 6.7 million kg of glass containers, or 18.7 kg per capita.
Alicante provides 1,547 glass recycling containers overall, offering one container per 232 inhabitants.
Ecovidrio data shows that more than seven in 10 glass packaging items are recycled in Spain. Per capita, 19.8 kg of glass containers are recycled annually in all of Spain, or an average of 68 glass packaging items.
Last year, Tomra began installing its reverse vending machines in Spain ahead of its national DRS rollout scheduled for November this year.
