During the day organized by Coca-Cola and RCRA on the occasion of Earth Day as part of the Mares Circulares project, a total of 64 volunteers, including Coca-Cola Alicante residents, removed 192 kilos of waste from Cala Sangueta in Alicante. your oceans. The event featured the collaboration of volunteers from the RCRA, Chelonia, Hotel Maya, Hotel Calas, Hempel, La Sal, Alicante City Council, Firefighters, and Coca-Cola and adds to five other aquatic environment cleanups already undertaken. held in the water areas of Madrid (Embalse del Atazar, El Barrueco), Barcelona (Terramar Beach, Sitges), Valencia (El Pinedo Beach), Guipúzcoa (La Antilla), A Coruña (Praia de Ares) to commemorate this event. and Cádiz (Valdelagrana Beach, El Puerto de Santa María) Made by over 250 Coca-Cola volunteers.
Ramon A. Alonso of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Iberia Alicante stressed the importance of “promoting the circular economy and cooperation between different institutions to ensure the protection of aquatic environments. We should know that we all have a responsibility to undertake in order to leave a better environment for future generations than the one we live in. We appreciate the cooperation of the volunteers who provide an example of what we can achieve together.”
Alicante City Council Environmental Councilor Manuel Villar assured that World Oceans Day is a way to make our awareness of the environment visible. It’s about acting not just today, but every year. And with such actions, it becomes clear that the work for the protection of our seas should be continued. As always, we would like to thank the Mares Circulares for their disposition and work on this awareness work.
César Pérez Muñiz of the Chelonia Society said:It appreciates the great involvement of the Jesuit school and highlights the need to raise awareness among our students and our citizens in general, as it is a global problem and the solution needs everyone.”
Circular Seas in the Community of Valencia
More than 2,000 volunteers have participated in the last three editions, especially in the Valencian Community, collecting a total of 576,010.49 kg of waste in 10 beaches, 2 Marine Reserves and 3 Protected Areas. Likewise, 10,540 people took part in the training and awareness activities of the initiative and took part in a total of 123 collaborative projects, including NGOs, organizations and institutions.
Bet on research
The fifth edition of Mares Circulares is marked by a firm commitment to research and innovation to find a solution to the problem of marine debris and contribute to the development of a circular economy of plastic waste reaching the ocean.
The project had already succeeded in separating the PET plastic obtained during the cleaning of aquatic environments to integrate it into the first bottle containing 25% marine plastic suitable for food use. It is now possible to give a second life to non-PET plastics found in our seas and oceans, such as nets, bags or remnants of highly degraded and mixed films, that hitherto could not be reused.
The result is 15 benches, each hand-made from recycled plastic, with 30 to 50% non-PET plastic originating from marine litter, collected by more than 500 fishermen from 104 boats in fifteen ports off our shores. These benches will be located in many ports cooperating with the project.
Interventions on beaches and aquatic environments
The role of science is also fundamental in the cleaning business. Since the program’s inception, 297 interventions have been carried out to coastal and aquatic environments, 54 of which are added to marine reserves and other protected areas, enabling the collection of more than 1,514 tons of waste, of which 14.4. PET is plastic. With this material, it was possible to make the first bottle containing 25% marine plastic suitable for food use.
In addition to the activities carried out, periodically compiled and monitored data were collected and then incorporated into a database that serves as a source of information and information for scientists investigating aquatic conservation.
Monitoring all these data is an essential part of the Mares Circular and is in line with the provisions of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Control (MITERD) marine litter monitoring program.
This information comes not only from where land clearing takes place with volunteers (beaches and other aquatic environments), but also from what takes place on the seabed in collaboration with fishing boats from different ports and fraternities in Spain and Portugal. This work has managed to remove 5,200 kilos of waste so far this year with the participation of 500 fishermen.
Circular Seas
Circular Seas is part of Coca-Cola’s global strategy ‘World Without Waste’ (‘A World Without Waste’) and ‘Going Forward’ sustainability strategy in Western Europe, particularly in the packaging segment. Thus, Coca-Cola goes one step further in its efforts to contribute to the protection of the planet and by committing to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of the packaging it sells.
Circular Seas is a network project supported by Coca-Cola in Spain and Portugal to clean coasts, aquatic environments and seabeds, raise awareness and education about recycling, and support the circular economy.
‘Circular Seas’ Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA)It was developed through the Fisheries General Secretariat and hand in hand with the associations. Chelonia, Zero Discharge Y Ecomar Foundation.
Between 2018 and 2021, the project, which integrated more than 1,100 collaborative organizations and involved 23,319 volunteers, was able to collect 1,513 tons of waste from aquatic environments and seabeds in Spain and Portugal. However, 63,669 people were trained and sensitized, and four start-ups and twelve scientific studies were awarded that proposed circular economy solutions to address the problem of waste reaching the seas and aquatic areas.
Circular Seas is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically SDG 12 – responsible production and consumption – SDG 14 – underwater life – and SDG 17 – building alliances for sustainable development.
https://www.cocacolaespana.es/mares-circulares