Baiona (Pontevedra), Jun 1 (EFE).- The Mares Circulares project has managed to remove and classify 1,880 tons of marine debris since it was launched five years ago, material that is being analyzed and whose data has been made available to the community science to promote the development of the circular economy with these materials.
The project, developed by Coca-Cola, has the collaboration of almost 1,300 public and private institutions and organizes waste collection on 100 beaches -protected and tourist- and 17 fishing ports in Spain.
In Andalusia, they are Almería, Carboneras and Garrucha (Almería), Isla Cristina, Punta del Moral and Punta Umbría (Huelva), Marbella and Caleta de Vélez (Málaga).
In Galicia, Riberia, Muros and Beau participate; in the Balearic Islands it is part of the Andratx project, in the Canary Islands the Restiga beach on the island of Hierro; in Asturias, Gijón and Asturias; and in Cantabria the port of Santoña.
In addition, the Association of Producers of demersal species of the port of Horta, in the Portuguese islands of the Azores, participates.
With them the first objective of the project is worked on, the urgency of removing waste in the marine environment and on the beaches in collection activities in which 125 fishing boats and almost 35,000 volunteers participate.
This was explained in an act with journalists by the director of Sustainability of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Carmen Gómez-Acebo, who highlighted that 456 cleanings have been carried out thanks to Mares Circulares.
In addition, on each beach that is cleaned, monitoring is carried out twice a year to carry out follow-up, which makes it possible to evaluate the evolution and trends in the waste found in the sea.
In recent years, for example, waste has appeared that barely existed years ago, such as masks.
Of the total 1,800 tons of waste collected, both on beaches and in marine environments, most of it is plastic, with 81% and 72% respectively.
Specifically, 19.6 tons collected are PET; In the case of beaches, the most collected waste after plastics is hygienic-sanitary (5.6%), glass (3.26%) and metal (3.08%).
Metals are the materials that are most extracted from the seabed -after plastics-; They are followed by glass (4.95%) and textiles (3.51%).
On June 28, a clean-up is scheduled for the Cíes Islands within the conference of the University Employment Services, with the participation of 100 people from different universities.
SCIENTIFIC APPROACH, AWARENESS AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY
In the second line of work of the project, which they call “what is important”, the aim is to raise awareness, raise awareness and train citizens in matters of circular economy and conservation.
In five years, 73,189 people have been trained in 210 municipalities; In addition, three scientific-technical conferences have been held at universities.
He has also pointed out the importance of public-private collaboration in objectives such as the one pursued by Mares Circulares.
In order to move towards a truly circular economy, the waste data that has been collected in the last five years is made available to the scientific community.
Specifically, 811 monitoring have been carried out and 14 studies and six emerging companies have been recognized, with prizes in which 118,000 euros have been distributed in the last five years.
The general director of Environmental Quality, Sustainability and Climate Change of the Xunta de Galicia, Sagrario Pérez Castellanos, has stressed the importance of this project in a space like Galicia that lives “by, for and with the sea”.
“Scattered waste destroys habitats”, something that “those who live off of it, like fishermen, know well”, he concluded.