Malaga leads the way in glass recycling in Andalucía: these are the most conscientious Costa del Sol towns

Glass recycling is making some headway in Malaga - a province that stands out as the most responsible in Andalucía in this respect. Although the province leads the ranking, with 33,821 tonnes collected in 2024, there are significant differences between municipalities, with Benahavís (35.7 kilos per inhabitant), Nerja (34.8), Manilva (34.1), Torremolinos (30.7) and Marbella (29.7) setting the good example.

The data has been confirmed by Ecovidrio, which is the body responsible for the sustainable collection and management of glass containers. While Malaga has registered a slight decrease of 3% in consumption, there has been an increase in selective collection of glass - 0.6% compared to the national average of 0.5%.

On average, each Malaga resident deposited 19.1 kilos of glass in 2024, the equivalent of 65 glass containers per person. The province has 8,673 containers for glass collection.

After Malaga come Seville (13.3), Granada (13.2), Cadiz (12.7), Almeria (10.6), Jaén (10.5), Cordoba (9.8) and Huelva (9.7). According to Ecovidrio, the Costa del Sol leads the ranking due to the high activity of its hospitality industry and the greater environmental awareness of a population that receives a lot of foreigners every year.

Glass is a material that is 100% recyclable, which makes the system of separate collection "the most effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable model". According to Ecovidrio, in 2024, Malaga prevented the emission of 19,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - an amount equivalent to the circulation of 9,000 cars a year. This has been possible thanks to glass recycling.

In Andalucía as a whole, the selective collection of glass containers increased by 3.3%, representing 52 containers per person. However, this still leaves the region below the national average (65 containers per person). In addition to all the glass deposited in the green containers, Ecovidrio recovered 6,598 tonnes of glass packaging waste that was not correctly separated from the urban waste plants in Andalucía. This amount was reintegrated into the production cycle.

Ecovidrio's deputy director Coral Rojas-Marcos said that it is necessary for the regional government and municipalities to implement and monitor obligatory recycling, as established by law. This share of co-responsibility is what will guarantee results, as Rojas-Marcos stated.

In 2024, 1,004,315 tonnes were recovered in Spain, of which more than 90% (928,654 tonnes) came from the green bins. The recycling rate of glass in Spain stood at 71.1% at the end of the year, which places Spain above the ambitious targets set by Europe for 2025 (70%). It is expected that the country will reach and exceed 80% by 2030.

"Despite these excellent results, there are large differences between cities in Spain," stated Ecovidrio. For example, San Sebastian (37.3 kilos per inhabitant), Pamplona (31) or Bilbao (26.5) were the provincial capitals with the highest contribution, all of them above the national average. The three cities have opted to hand over the direct management of collection and recycling operations to Ecovidrio, instead of carrying it out themselves. In contrast, Cáceres (9.7 kilos per inhabitant), Toledo (9.3) and Huelva (8.4 kilos per inhabitant) were at the bottom in terms of citizen contribution to glass recycling, confirming the great room for improvement in some areas of the country.

In its efforts to move towards zero waste, Ecovidrio extracted 7,427 tonnes from rejects and wastes for other industrial uses.

Through its national initiative - EcoBarrios - Ecovidrio has acted in nearly 80 Spanish cities and 698 neighborhoods to accelerate the increase of selective separation of glass containers in these areas.

Ecovidrio is also reaffirming its position as a benchmark and promoter of circularity in the hospitality sector in Spain. As part of its EcoVares plan, in 2024 it visited more than 180,000 hotels in more than 850 municipalities to implement operational plans designed specifically for the sector in each municipality, campaigns in collaboration with local councils, environmental training, the installation of new containers and the provision of free resources adapted to the specific needs of the sector.