● The regional government presents the Strategy for Plastic in the Canary Islands and
A regulation is advanced that will prohibit single-use plastics as of December 1
January next year, thus aligning with European guidelines
● The counselor, José Antonio Valbuena, highlights that these actions “will contribute to
establish a smart, innovative and sustainable plastics industry” in
in line with current European regulations
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Planning
Territorial Government of the Canary Islands presented this Friday, February 28, the Strategy
for Plastic in the Canary Islands, a document that aims to promote a drastic
reduction of plastic waste and that, in the near future, will be integrated into the
future Canarian Law of Circular Economy. At the same time, the regional Executive has announced
that single-use plastics will be prohibited in the Archipelago as of January 1,
2021, through regulations that are already being worked on.
The counselor responsible for the Area, José Antonio Valbuena, explained that this Strategy
“proposes actions to promote changes in the design of plastic products, the
reduction of consumption and responsible use of this type of waste, in addition to promoting the
separate collection and reuse of plastic waste, improvement in recycling and
promotion of energy recovery, with a view to progressively minimizing the discharge of
plastic waste.”
Likewise, he recalled that “this strategy was advanced in the previous legislature, presenting a
first draft, but the document needed an update to align it with the
European guidelines and with the current structure of this new Department.”
This initiative, financed with FEDER funds, includes proposals for its application in the
areas of public administration, the primary sector, industry and services, including
shipping companies and airlines.
The counselor, José Antonio Valbuena, explained that the implementation of this Strategy
“will contribute to establishing a smart, innovative and sustainable plastics industry, where the
design and production fully respect the needs of reduction, reuse, and
recycling. In this way, we will reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and
dependence on fossil fuels.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of the Fight against Climate Change, Miguel Ángel Pérez,
announced that “the regional Executive is currently in the preparation phase of
an additional regulation that will establish a scalable ban on single-use plastics
use in the Canary Islands for its entry into force on January 1, 2021.” Pérez emphasizes that this
decree “has a punishable nature so that those who do not comply have specific sanctions.”
The Strategy for Plastic in the Canary Islands is prepared in accordance with the legislation
current Spanish and European regarding waste and, in particular, with the strategy for the
plastic of the European Union, focused on the fact that by 2030 all plastic packaging
marketed in the EU are recyclable.
With it, the Government of the Canary Islands wants to actively contribute to the efforts of the
international community to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and
with the Paris Agreement, in order to prevent the planet's average global temperature from exceeding
2oC compared to pre-industrial levels.
Strategy contents
The document seeks to promote the commitment of companies to increase
gradually recycled raw materials in the production of products, as well as the
review of waste management fees, taxing activities with a higher amount
commercial stores on Canary Islands that do not present a plan for separate collection and recycling of
plastic waste it generates.
In addition, it will promote projects to progressively implement alternative systems of
collection of domestic plastic waste and will impose a fee on waste discharges
plastics in landfills, setting a progressive increase in the tax until its prohibition in
2030.
The strategy also seeks to reduce the impact of plastic waste in the sea, for which
will create agreements with the fishing and agricultural sectors that contemplate a collection plan and
recycling of used and discarded plastic products, preventing them from reaching the environment
marine.
With respect to the services sector, among other actions, the need for the
establishments comply with the obligation to develop and guarantee the correct maintenance
of the plastic waste management plan.
In the field of public administration, it is proposed to give priority to the purchase of products
reused, develop a standard that regulates the promotion of green purchasing, and prohibit the use
of single-use plastics at public events and patron saint festivities, among many other measures.
