The iconic giant igloo of Ecovidrio, in Benidorm in the campaign 'Recycle and pedal' of La Vuelta 2019

The iconic giant igloo of Ecovidrio is located, since Friday at Sus Majestades los Reyes de España square at the gates of Benidorm City Council. With a capacity of 40 tons - the equivalent of 50 times the size of street igloos - the igloo is a tribute to Benidorm citizens having achieved the best rate of selective collection of glass containers among the municipalities of 'La Vuelta 2019 'and be a national leader, in ratio and volume 56.4 kilos per inhabitant and year compared to a national average of 18 kilos / inhabitant / year, slightly higher than the average of the Valencian Community that is at 17.6 kilos / inhabitant / year. In fact, the approximately 67,000 inhabitants registered in Benidorm would take only 3 days to fill this giant container.

The Ecovidrio area manager, Roberto Fuentes, said that this initiative wants to “honor the people of Benidorm for their perseverance, teamwork and effort with the recycling of glass containers throughout 2018 and these first months of 2019” . Benidorm, he stressed, “is demonstrating the commitment of its citizens to the Environment as well as that of their companies through comprehensive plans for the hospitality industry, reinforcement in containerization and citizen awareness campaigns in times of high consumption, such as parties".

Fuentes highlighted "the spectacular figures of Benidorm: almost a thousand tons of glass in the months of June and July." Mónica Gómez, the Councilor for Environment said “the excellent month of June, with 513 million kilos of glass containers, setting a record”.

With these figures and this will, the Mayor Toni Pérez highlighted "the awareness achieved in a model of a compact city such as Benidorm that allows the best management of resources and the best provision of services."

The mayor reaffirmed to the gigantic igloo that "Benidorm is the iconic destination of sustainability" and commented the simile that in the first two months of summer, June and July, "Benidorm has been able to fill twenty-three and a half containers" like the one located at the door of the Town Hall .

Toni Pérez insisted on raising awareness that "Tourism is a sustainable industry as Benidorm shows" in this and other fields.

Benidorm has more containers than the national average (one for every 175 inhabitants; 386 containers installed) being located, said the mayor, “both in the areas of most consumption and in areas of the garden of Benidorm, where ecological recycling islands are located ”, Showing his satisfaction that Benidorm citizens recycled in 2018 a total of 3,811,560 kilograms of glass, which translates into 56.4 kg on average per inhabitant.

The largest container in the World

The approximately 67,000 inhabitants registered in Benidorm would take only 3 days to fill the largest container in the world. With a capacity of 40 tons, the equivalent of 50 times the size of the igloos installed on the street, the giant container, 8 meters high and 5 diameters, could collect up to 120,000 glass containers.

In terms of environmental benefits, recycling all these containers would prevent the emission of up to 15 times the CO2 emitted by a car on a trip from Madrid to Beijing, China. It would also save 48 tons of raw materials extracted for the manufacture of glass; would reach an energy efficiency to consider.

Environmental Workshops

As they have developed this weekend, on the 24th and 25th, the latter coinciding with the departure of the 2nd Stage Benidorm-Calpe, at Sus Majestades los Reyes de España square and next to the iconic igloo, Ecovidrio has organized Recycling workshops with the glass recycling chain, games such as glass-goose and details for children attending from 10 am to 2 pm and from 6 pm to 10 pm.