Green initiative launched by town council as it asks people to “do our part” on Spain’s Costa Blanca

LOS MONTESINOS Town Hall is giving away cloth shopping bags in a move to cut waste and safeguard the environment.

In exchange for five plastic ones, the council are declaring the move as a, “war on plastic’.

Ana Belén Juárez, Councillor for Commerce and Environment announced the Friday bag swap as a move to promote local business as well as protecting the environment.

Indeed, the bags are printed with the legend ‘Buy in Los Montesinos’.

Juárez confirmed, “We will give a reusable cloth bag for every five plastic bags to each person who comes to the City Hall or at the market.”

Continuing, “The more plastic bags out of circulation, the better, as they take some 500 years to disappear.”

She repeated the findings of a 2019 study at the World Economic Forum that concluded, “in 30 years there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.”

Swaps can take place from 9am to 2pm at the Los Montesinos Town Hall and from 4 pm to 7pm on Friday, June 11 at the door of the Town Hall, coinciding with the market.

Juárez insisted, “”We have to promote the use of sustainable materials, it is clear that the only way that the next generations can continue to enjoy the planet is the circular economy.”

In a call for all citizens to contribute, she claimed, “It seems that taking care of the planet is the responsibility of others, especially large countries and large companies, and of course they have a lot to do but each of us can also do our part within our scope, also in refers to the plastic of which we are large consumers.”

Councilor for Public Services, Joaquín García, and the mayor, José Manuel Butrón, were also at the presentation yesterday, June 9.

Representing Ferrovial, who will be working on the project with the council, Sandra Pacheco said: “the initiative involves a public-private collaboration aimed at making citizens aware of the importance of carrying out responsible consumption, not to buy plastic bags, to buy in local shops.”

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