This year, Spain has already suffered a slap on the wrist from the European Commission regarding compliance with recycling objectives. It is not the first time it has happened and it is not the last either. This week, the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) has warned that, indeed, the percentage of waste separated and prepared for recovery or recycling reached 40.5% in 2020 in the country as a whole, far from the goal 50% community. However, in other areas of the sector we do comply and “we are leaders,” highlights Alicia García-Franco, general director of the Spanish Recovery and Recycling Federation. But beyond looking at the industry, García-Franco also asks to look at houses, because “this throwaway model must be changed.”
-How do you see this fulfillment of that objective number 12 that we are dealing with?
-This SDG is fundamental for our future, we do not have two plants and resources are finite. It is important to meet this objective and from the sector we promote the use and employment of recycled raw materials. With this gesture we are able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and electricity consumption is also cut. Currently, we are only in the first steps and we still have a long way to go. It is necessary to change this linear system of producing, consuming and throwing away for one that is circular. Not only this, we must also promote eco-design and establish a stable market for recycled raw materials that allows us to compete with natural raw materials.
-So, is it a money problem?
-It is the challenge that remains for us to meet. We have taken a great step in technological availability that allows us to achieve that goal. We have been researching and fine-tuning our work for a long time, but now it is necessary for governments and manufacturers to make a real commitment to eco-design.
-What is the recipe to reverse this trend?
-The European Union has made an important commitment to its agenda with the commitment to a circular economy. Brussels has made a commitment to design and recycling and, lately, is committed to requiring manufacturers to provide a percentage of recycled material. This is essential, because if you force manufacturers to do so, you help recyclers put it back on the market. There is also a firm commitment to reuse and repair.
-When will this circularity be achieved?
-We have seven years left until 2030 and it is true that now we are going at a very fast speed in production and responsible consumption. In previous generations, profit was in their DNA and they only bought what they needed. Our grandparents had that mentality and now we have lost it, because we do not buy only what we need. That is the key, that thought and I see it in the following generations. I don’t know if we will make it to 2030, but I am certain that we have moved forward one step.
-In Spain, we see many recycling figures and the difference between them, sometimes, is abysmal. Is it recycled in our country?
-Waste has names and surnames, that is, we have domestic, commercial and industrial waste. In the domestic ones we fail and we do so in comparison with the rest of Europe, because we are not achieving the objectives that are required of us. It is true that the administrations are working on it, but not at the speed that Europe demands of us. In part, it is the consumers’ fault, because we did not act very well in the separation. In the case of commercial and industrial, in some cases we are pioneers, such as in automotive batteries. The name of this waste is important, because in metallic we exceed the European objectives, in plastics, it is true, we go down. That is why it is very difficult to say whether we comply or not, because in some aspects we are pioneers and in others we fail. I don’t like to generalize.
-Are we doing everything possible as a society to encourage recycling and reuse?
-We have to improve in everything, because it is true that it is a challenge to return to that model of circular economy and responsible consumer products. We must improve all members of the production chain. Appropriate measures are being taken, because the law requires it, but the consumer still has to learn.
-You have talked about ecodesign, what will be the materials that are going to take over the market in the future?
-The future will always be a combination of materials. It is true that metal is infinitely usable, for example, now we could be using arrowhead sidewalks from the Romans, because no matter how much you melt them and reintroduce them into the cycle, they will not lose any of their properties. Metal will always be here, the same goes for paper and cardboard. There will also be plastic and we will have to continue improving them so that they are not made with substances harmful to the environment or human health. We should not demonize it, because it allows us to have, for example, less food waste, it has allowed us advances in medicine or textiles.
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