A documentary called Ibiza y Formentera 100% renovables (or, rendered in English, “Eivissa and Formentera, 100% renewable”) will be screened at the local cinema on Tuesday December 15 at 8.00pm. Environment secretary Daisee Aguilera thanked Miguel Ángel Villagrasa, Ulises Petinto and Fani Alonso, who are not only the founders of the nonprofit Camarógrafos por el cambio (“Photographers for change”—TN), but also the film's creators, for bringing it to the island.

Ensuing discussion

The Formentera Council is contributing €800 to a production whose creators want audiences to ask the following question: “Is it possible to make Eivissa and Formentera 100% renewable?” After the screening participants of a roundtable discussion— including CiF environment secretary Daisee Aguilera, Fons de Preservació d'Eivissa's Sandra Benbeniste, Amics de la Terra's Jordi Salewski and members of the audience—will attempt an answer.

The Formentera Council's office of the environment has put together a field trip so that local pupils can get a first-hand look at the island's new waste drop-off centre. According to staff specialist Javier Asensio, who went along too, the visit is aimed at helping Formentera kids «learn how [the tip] works and see what garbage – when too big to fit in normal bins – must be brought here».

A total of 34 boys and girls from the Sant Ferran primary school got to see the inner workings of the drop-off centre. A previous field trip had provided a close-up look at the Formentera transfer station and the chance to see rubbish being weighed and compacted. In Asensio's words, the goal of today's visit was to raise awareness about where our waste ends up and the importance of recycling.

The Formentera Council's environmental office has postponed the beach-cleaning outing originally scheduled to take place this Sunday, 22 November, in the Ses Illetas zone of the island. Department head Daisee Aguilera pointed to the spell of good weather over the last few days and the recent beach-cleaning carried out by groups of school children as the motives behind the office's decision to «postpone Sunday's community cleaning effort until future storms require further action».

Taking stock after schools coordinate beach-combings

All told, when on 27 November the last group comes back from the beach, 380 local kids between 4 and 12 will have done their part tidying up at the Ses Salines park and Migjorn and ses Platgetes beaches. At the end of each outing, office of environment staff lead recycling workshops and talk to pupils about properly separating waste before tossing it in the bin. «The goal is to raise awareness from a young age», said Councillor Aguilera, who was sure to thank local schools for their involvement.

Earlier today, the Formentera Council's department of environment issued a review concerning the levels of waste generated locally so far this year. Since January, explained department head Daisee Aguilera, one in every four pieces of rubbish generated on Formentera has been recycled. She thanked the people of Formentera for their efforts separating waste at home.

“This”, she said, “is the good news. The bad news is there exists an all-too-frequent occurrence: illegal dumping. Residents, instead of taking certain rubbish to the municipal tip, simply leave it next to the street-side bins”. To tackle the problem, the department of the environment has created stickers to be placed on the abandoned rubbish, which, says Aguilera, “signal the need to initiate an investigation aimed at identifying the offending individual”.

Sixty offences
In fact, so far in 2015 sixty offenders have been caught and sanctioned – the same number as in 2014. As established in the local code of conduct, fines start at fifty euros and can go as high as three thousand. For that very reason, Councillor Aguilera took the opportunity of the press conference to “make a special appeal to the people of Formentera to take any special waste to the newly-opened rubbish tip”.

More recycling, more savings
Aguilera also spoke about the costs associated with waste management, emphasising that pretreatment and transfer costs are only applied to non-recyclable rubbish (whereas recycled waste is exempt from those charges). She concluded: “Recycling means a very real reduction of costs for taxpayers”. The councillor also underscored the importance of domestic recycling because “it permits a reuse of old material”.

Raising awareness among youth of the island
Staff specialist of the office, Diego Ojeda, spoke about the figures reflecting waste collection at the local level. He pointed out the island experiences a boom in waste generation in the summertime and that Formenterers generated 2.5% more trash this October than the same month last year. He noted recycling figures had remained more or less unchanged: up 0.90 points to 24.9% from 24%. To get the number even higher, Councillor Aguilera spoke of the need to raise awareness among the island's youth and said Formentera needs “informational campaigns and beach-cleaning outings for schoolchildren”.

Furniture and large waste collection
Ojeda indicated that this year “we have carried out 260 free home pick-ups (scheduled by phoning 900 102 656) of furniture and other large-items”.

He also referred to the opening this May of the island's rubbish tip and said the site —designed for the drop-off of items not fit for disposal in normal bins— has received 4,065 visits this year. He cited more than 600 tonnes of household waste and approximately 5 tonnes of hazardous waste materials have been collected as well. Encouraging a mindful use of the facility, Ojeda reminded Formentera's residents of the site's opening hours: Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and Monday through Friday 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.