Benidorm will receive almost 1.5 million in aid for the implementation of new selective collection systems and bio-waste

Benidorm City Council will receive almost 1.5 million euros (1,452,449.19 euros) in aid for the implementation of new separate collections, especially bio-waste, and improvement of existing ones, systems that will have to be implemented in the year 2025, according to the European directive and the new Spanish Waste Law (7/2022). These aids are financed by the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan of the Generalitat Valenciana.

The amount that the city will receive assumes that Benidorm will be the municipality of the Valencian Community that receives the most money for this concept in the four eligible lines. In fact, in three of the four lines, Benidorm manages to be the municipality that receives the most aid, and only in one of them does it come in second place.

Thus, in the so-called Line A, related to the separate collection of bio-waste, Benidorm will receive 1,204,147.09 euros, of the 3.59 million requested. In-Line B, related to the implementation of community composting, the amount granted amounts to 73,702.10 euros, of the 265,510 that were requested. For Line C, collection of domestic oils, the aid will amount to 50,000 euros, of the 154,604 requested. Finally, in Line D, collection of textile waste, Benidorm has achieved 124,600 euros, of the 311,500 that were requested.

In the opinion of the Councilor for Street Cleaning, José Ramón González de Zárate, the achievement of aid in that amount means "that things have been done well and that there is a great technical work behind it." For this reason, the mayor wanted to "very sincerely thank the effort and work carried out by the entire technical team that made the proposal that has allowed us to obtain these amounts ahead of any other municipality in the Valencian Community."

The resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency, and Ecological Transition establishes that a first advance payment of 30% of the subsidized amount will be made once the granting of the aid is resolved, while the rest of the amount will be paid through payments on account.

"We have to change the current collection system to adapt and comply with European regulations and we have a deadline of 2025 because if we don't there will be sanctions" indicated the councilor. González de Zárate has highlighted that the adaptation to the regulations requires "that it appears in the new garbage collection contract" so that "by obtaining this aid we will save a significant amount of money, which will not be passed on to the citizens".

The councillor has insisted that the improvements to adapt to the law "we were going to do them yes or yes", but now "it will mean a much smaller economic effort", specifically almost 1.5 million savings.
González de Zárate has specified that the implementation of the new collection systems "involves giving citizens many more facilities for the segregation of waste at source", so "it is necessary that all this be reflected in the new contract".

The Councilor for Street Cleaning has advanced that the actions that will be carried out with these aids to adapt to the regulations will imply "expanding the recycling and segregation points so that the user has it much easier and within reach, in addition to having certain incentives for what I recycle”.

In short, he has concluded, "what we do is anticipate what is imposed on us from Europe and Spanish laws so that in 2025 we are fully prepared for what they ask of us."