Recycling that helps social and environmental projects

For the Little Wish Foundation actions such as RECYCLESsince they help us give visibility and voice to our mission, and contribute to fulfilling it through fundraising. Thanks to the support received so far for this initiative, we have made the wishes of 70 seriously ill children come true, giving them and their families emotional support at a difficult time in their process, giving them hope and energy. Next year we turn 25 years old and we hope to continue helping many more children. Sometimes, fulfilling your wish is your best medicine,” says Cristina Cuadrado, its director.

Fundación Pequeno Deseo is one of the associations that RECICLOS has helped, as has happened, among others (up to 80 social and environmental projects), with CEAFA, Down España, Juegaterapia, Aldeas Infantiles, FIEB, Fundación A La Par, Obra Social San Juan de Dios, Acavall Foundation, Aladina Foundation, ASPANOVAS and Global Nature Foundation. The system developed by Ecoembes offers consumers the possibility of recycling their cans and plastic beverage bottles in one of the yellow containers on the streets that have this system, or in the machines distributed for this purpose in high-traffic places such as transport stations, hospitals or universities, etc.

Through the app, recycling citizens have generated more than 2.5 million points, transformed into donations and, in addition, into contributions for the development of the first RECICLOS Forest, for which almost 650,000 points have been donated (created in 2022 , is made up of native species of the Sierra Norte of Madrid such as pine forests, oak forests, holly, holm oaks and ash trees, it already has more than 20,500 trees and almost 35,000 new plantations). And with the aim of helping those affected by Dana in the Valencian community, Ecoembes activated five projects through RECICLOS with which users could collaborate from anywhere in Spain. As a result, 330,000 euros were donated to the Red Cross and Food Bank, to support the work of both organizations in the affected areas.

Social commitment

As Nieves Rey, communications and marketing director of Ecoembes, highlights, this system “was born to demonstrate that the impact of recycling is environmental, but also social. All projects are special, for the simple fact of contributing to a social or environmental cause through them. But having the opportunity to contribute our grain of sand, for example, to what happened in the Valencian Community has shown us how far citizen collaboration can go through small or large gestures.

Gestures such as those valued by CEAFAwhose Executive Director/CEO, Jesús Rodrigo, comments: «Our goal is to seek the necessary social commitment and value knowledge to be able to represent and defend the interests, needs and rights of all people who live with Alzheimer’s (it is estimated that in Spain the number of people affected is close to 1,200,000, a figure that is close to 5,000,000 if we count the family). We extend our gratitude to the gesture of solidarity of all the people who, with their RECICLOS points, have contributed to improving the environment, and have also helped to improve the quality of life of all people affected by Alzheimer’s or other dementias.

In the case of Aladina FoundationIshtar Espejo, its director, highlights how “we can only be grateful to Ecoembes for helping us make visible through its Reciclos app the work we do in favor of children and adolescents with cancer. The chain of solidarity generated is a great example of how positive projects for society can grow together and contribute their grain of sand in different areas.