Benidorm installs the first point on Levante beach to give a new life to tourists' beach items

This Tuesday, Benidorm City Council launched a pioneering initiative to promote the circular economy on the beaches, giving a new life to beach items among tourists who come and go during the high season. The mayor of the city, Toni Pérez, and the councillor for Beaches and Environment, Mónica Gómez, have presented this action in the first of the clean points that are going to be enabled in the sandy areas so that bathers can deposit mats, hammocks, floats, umbrellas, buckets, shovels, boards or other types of objects that are in good condition and will not be needed at the end of their vacation so that other tourists can reuse them.

Toni Pérez explained that “the beach concessionaire company, the waste collection company or the accommodation sector, tell us that every year an infinite number of hammocks, mats, umbrellas, chairs and other elements that have had a single use but they end up in containers or abandoned in hotels, apartments and campsites because their owners no longer need them or cannot take them” on the plane, train or other type of transport “when they return to their places of origin.” Given that, “it occurred to us that the option of giving them a second life was a perfect way to contribute to the environment.”

The first clean point where these items can be deposited is located next to the Levante Beach library, at the junction of Madrid and Europa avenues, although the mayor of the department has already announced that the initiative will be extended to different points of the three beaches. It is signposted in Spanish, Valencian and English and indicates the articles that can be deposited there.

Toni Pérez has indicated that it is “an initiative linked to environmental sustainability in the largest and best known and most visited natural space of our city, such as the beaches” and has trusted that “the very high influx of users to this space will help this action have a great impact since there are hundreds of thousands of people who only enjoy them in summer.

For her part, Mónica Gómez has stated that this recycling point is not only sustainable in concept but also in its composition: “It has been made from recycled materials that were used on the beaches during the pandemic, such as pegs to which the ropes that marked the six meters of the first line and the plots that were generated in the sandy areas were anchored or the net that was used to regulate the capacities.”

Likewise, she has indicated that the articles that are deposited in these spaces but that are not in good use to be reused will be transferred by the concessionaire company for treatment and disposal at the corresponding points so that all this action "will revolve around the philosophy of 'the three Rs': recycle, reduce and reuse."

Celebration of World Environment Day

The launch of this clean point is Benidorm's first action on the occasion of World Environment Day, which is celebrated tomorrow, June 5, and for whose commemoration the City Council has planned a series of initiatives that will be deployed from today and until Saturday and that have also been presented today.

Specifically, tomorrow, Wednesday, an informative activity has been planned at Racó de l'Infern Quarry in which 400 schoolchildren from ten schools in the city will participate to learn about the landscape and environmental regeneration work that is being carried out in the same. Toni Pérez recalled that "since last January, the regeneration project of this enclave has been carried out, which will allow the environmental recovery of this space of just over 60,000 square meters, located mainly in the Natural Park of Serra Gelada, and for 70 years they have been a mark” in this place. The first mayor stated, "Benidorm is recovering this space, with the help of the TM company, to make it available to citizens and the world."

Regarding this activity, the Councilor for Beaches and Environment has indicated that the City Council proposed this visit to the Early Childhood and Primary educational centres “so that the students can see how the landscape and environmental regeneration project of the Racó quarry is being developed. de l'Infern, and at the same time get to know the flora and fauna that populate the Serra Gelada, as well as  Benidorm mobile eco-park service.” In short, “an activity to raise awareness and promote the environment and recycling” which, in addition, “both the technical staff of the Department of the Environment, as well as the management company of the Benidorm Ecopark and the TM company, in charge of the quarry regeneration work.”

Likewise, on Saturday morning, in Parc de Foietes, in collaboration with the Department of Historical Heritage, the first edition of the 'Urban Art Day' will take place, where it is planned that amateurs and professionals can participate with drawings and proposals artistic a total of 80 litter bins that have been removed from the beaches to give them a second life.

The day will run from ten in the morning until 2:30 p.m. and will also feature numerous parallel activities, such as urban dance performances, collective graffiti, freestyle, and sneaker customization workshops. Furthermore, before returning to the beaches with a new image, the public can vote for the litter bins that they like the most and the work with the most votes will be used to illustrate the poster for this day next year.

Finally, the mayor highlighted that all these initiatives are a critical reflection of “a highly motivated Department of Beaches and Environment, which practices active listening and has things very clear and is capable of launching wonderful projects.” to continue promoting sustainability, care and enhancement of the environment.”