Fifteen boats to help keep sea clean on the Costa del Sol this summer

A fleet of fifteen boats will be helping to maintain the quality of the sea water off the coastline from Torremolinos to Manilva throughout the summer. The service, which will be carried out by the public water company Acosol, has a budget of more than half a million euros and will run until 7 September.

This was announced on Thursday by CEO of Acosol and acting councillor at Marbella town hall Manuel Cardeña, who said that the cleaning boats collected 160 cubic metres of waste from the sea in 2022.

Acosol, which takes on the full cost of the service (503,360 euros), started the operation on Thursday 15 June with 11 small boats and four larger vessels for the collection of floating and semi-submerged items, as well as hydrocarbons and oil.

Acosol technician Eva Vedia said the main function is the prevention of pollution episodes in bathing areas and the collection of waste in open sea waters up to six nautical miles from the coast. The company awarded the contract, Ecolmare Ibérica S.A., will be responsible for this work.

The cleaning work will be carried out in Marbella, Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Estepona, Casares and Manilva. The intention is to extend the cleaning radius in the coming years.

Cardeña said that Marbella has two small boats and one large one, "but in the event of a major incident, it can have the support of the rest of the municipalities as they are all connected to each other and located via GPS".