There is an everyday gesture for a growing number of citizens that is worth much more than it might seem at first. Packaging recycling, which continues to increase every year since in Spain 12% more is currently recycled than five years ago, is not only important because of the significant savings in virgin raw materials and energy —9.84 million MWH in 2023—and water—15.53 million m3—but also because it can contribute to helping important NGOs in their humanitarian work.
“It is incredible how an action has two aspects to help, that people recycle and then they can choose to help an NGO. “They have helped us a lot in many projects,” says Belén Solera, director of Marketing and Institutional Relations of the Juegaterapia Foundation, one of the organizations that can be helped with RECICLOS, a system that offers rewards to its users for recycling, with locations distributed in selected municipalities of all autonomous communities. Specifically, thanks to the donation of 7,000 RECICLOS points by Valencians, ‘The Hall of Smiles’ has been launched in the children’s oncology hospitalization area of the La Fe University Hospital, in Valencia. This space has illustrations, vinyls and games, as well as areas in which a game or interaction related to laughter is proposed and a ‘laughter kit’, full of remedies and advice to make others laugh, present in each room.
This is not the only organization that has been helped by donating points earned by recycling plastic beverage cans and bottles with RECICLOS. “This recycling system has as its philosophy collaboration through recycling, giving users of this app the option to donate their points to current charitable projects at all times,” says Nieves Rey, Director of Communication and Marketing at Ecoembes. “Thanks to this project and its users we have been able to create alliances with associations such as Grandes Amigos, to give company to older people; Red Cross, helping those affected by the war in Ukraine or the La Palma volcano; Children’s Villages, to accompany minors with fewer resources; Juegaterapia, to make sick children’s stay in hospitals more bearable; or the Spanish Association Against Cancer, which renews our commitment to being close to cancer patients and giving visibility to their fight against this disease,” explains Rey.
Recycle to help oncology research
Precisely, the alliance between Ecoembes and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) was born two years ago. “Thanks to this business collaboration, we have supported specific projects such as the children’s camps that we organized in the Association for boys and girls with cancer and their brothers and sisters, in which more than 360 boys and girls participated last year,” says Maria de Lorenzo, business manager of the Spanish Association against cancer. In total, there are 11 projects to which users have donated almost a million points and that allow coverage of the different needs of a patient diagnosed with this disease, whether contributing to research, psycho-oncological care for patients and family or financial aid for basic household supplies, treatment and food, among others.
De Lorenzo highlights the importance of his association in relation to a disease that in Spain has been diagnosed in more than 279,000 people in 2023, according to calculations by the Spanish Network of Cancer Registries (REDECAN). “Today, the AECC is the social and private entity that allocates the most funds to cancer research: 114 million euros in 603 projects, in which more than 1,500 researchers participate,” he explains. Thanks to this, they can offer free services and promote oncological research with a very clear objective: “Achieve 70% cancer survival by 2030,” says De Lorenzo.
Therefore, this is one of the priority alliances for Ecoembes, although it is certainly not the only one. “Thanks to the solidarity of RECICLOS users, we have already carried out more than 500 projects at the regional and national level, and this collaborative movement does not end here: we are going to continue forward with more alliances and projects to be able to contribute to making a better society. . With the simple gesture of recycling you can help those who are having a hard time due to illness, having lost their homes, having family members who suffer from a rare disease, or even reforesting our natural spaces, protecting threatened species or leaving our environment free. of rubbish”concludes Rey.
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