Benidorm requests more than 2.8 million from the EU to implement new separate collections of biowaste and improve existing ones

The Local Government Board (JGL) of Benidorm City Council has approved the request for 2,850,000 euros to implement new separate collections, especially bio-waste, and improve existing ones. These aids are part of the Support Plan for the implementation of the waste regulations contemplated in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the Next Generation funds of the European Union.

The objective, as explained by the Councilor for Street Cleaning, José Ramón González de Zárate, is "to make more efficient use of available resources and to contribute to the fight against climate change". Thus, the City Council welcomes the call for aid to "achieve and implement prevention, minimization, reuse and recycling measures."

The aid requested is limited to four different lines. The highest amount requested, 2.5 million euros, corresponds to the so-called Line A, which includes projects for the implementation or improvement of the separate collection of bio-waste for specific biological treatment facilities (composting, anaerobic digestion or both). In this case, the cost of execution according to the Technical Report is 3,559,285 euros and the aid requested amounts to 2.5 million referred to, the maximum eligible.

The second grant that the City Council has approved to request corresponds to Line B, which encompasses projects for the separation and recycling of biowaste at source through domestic and community composting. The aid requested amounts to 100,000 euros and the execution cost rises to 265,510 euros.

The third grant requested is part of Line C, for projects to implement or improve the separate collection of used cooking oil, generated in the domestic sphere of commerce and services, to be used for recovery, especially to obtain biofuel. In this case, the aid that has been requested is 50,000 euros and the cost of execution according to the Technical Report is 154,604 euros.

The last subsidy approved by the Local Government Board is related to projects for the implementation or improvement of the separate collection of the fraction of textile waste from municipal waste to be used for preparation for reuse or recycling. This request, in Line D of aid, amounts to 200,000 euros, while the cost of execution amounts to 311,500 euros.

The Councilor for Street Cleaning has expressed his confidence that the subsidies requested "will be granted to us when the new tender begins, which is about to come out."
González de Zárate stressed that with these funds from the European Union "we comply with the Waste Law of the Government and the Generalitat Valenciana, as well as the guidelines of the European Union, in addition to saving citizens". At that point, the mayor specified that this money "was going to be used for direct investment in the new cleaning contract, but now with the subsidy we save it." Therefore, he continued "it is a very important improvement for the city, which is focused on improving waste collection and all the issues that have to do with recycling and the ecological aspect".