Recycling in Jávea on the Costa Blanca North in Spain. The importance of recycling is becoming abundantly clear due to the drastic impact that our rubbish is having on our planet. Through recycling we can reduce our overall waste, thus preventing the pollution that would otherwise be caused in creating new soon-to-be waste material, as well as reducing the amount of destruction that occurs when sourcing virgin materials, such as trees and precious metals.

This in turn saves money and reduces the amount of rubbish going into landfill. All of these things combined sound like a pretty good deal and all you have to do in return is put your waste products in the correct bin! How easy is that?! 

What is recycling?

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It is an alternative to “conventional” waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling).

Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” waste hierarchy. It promotes environmental sustainability by removing raw material input and redirecting waste output in the economic system.

The Rs

 When it comes to recycling in Javea, all you need to remember are the three Rs.

• Reduce – Try purchasing fresh, unpackaged produce as opposed to the pre cut, prepackaged alternative. If we all made just this switch alone, the results would be staggering!
• Reuse – Avoid the urge to scrumple up your old plastic drinking bottles and instead refill and reuse them! Failing that, we all have a cupboard at home filled with plastic bags from shopping trips gone by… Put them to good use for your next shop so you don’t end up adding to your ‘collection’!
• Recycle – Dispose of your recyclable material such as cardboard, paper, plastic and glass in the corresponding bins located throughout the municipality.

The Ecoparque in Javea

The Ecoparque is a waste management facility that was installed in order to provide the residents of Jávea with somewhere to dispose of their items that either do not fit into the public recycling bins or are not classified as glass, paper or plastic. These items could include domestic appliances, old furniture and electrical equipment. The Ecoparque is open from 9.00am until 1.30pm and then 3.30pm until 5.30pm Monday to Saturday with opening hours extending to 8.00pm in the Summer.

The Ecoparque – Located just over 3.5km West of the Arenal beachfront. To get there from the Blanca Cars office one must… 

Head NorthEast of the ‘Av. Arenal’ and take the 1st exit at the roundabout joining the ‘Av. de la Llibertat’. At the next roundabout you will once again take the 1st exit joining ‘Av. dels Tamarits’. At the roundabout take the 2nd exit going straight across and continue straight. At the next roundabout take the 3rd exit joining ‘C. la Haya’ and continue straight. At the next roundabout take the 2nd exit and continue for 1.9km, where you should take your 7th right hand turn. Just past the dog kennels after approximately 400m, the Ecoparque will be on your right hand side.

Directions to the Ecoparque in Javea

How to Recycle in Javea

As any responsible society should, Javea has a well-developed system of recycling used materials like paper, plastic, or soda cans.  You can find recycle bins, receptacles, and containers all over the city in Javea.

We know that there are many plastics in use in Spain, but we can at least recycle to help.  If you are new to Spain and come from another country the recycle system may be a bit different for you.  There are usually a variety of recycle bins scattered around every city, town and even small village.  Sometimes many of the recycling bins are grouped together and other times you will see just one or two. 

Yellow recycle bins in Javea

Only three types of containers should be deposited in the yellow container:

• Plastic containers such as bottles of soft drinks, mineral water, detergents, softeners, shopping bags, trays of white cork or porexpan, yogurt tubs, etc.
• Metal containers such as tin cans and aluminum cans of soft drinks, beer, preserves, aluminum trays, etc.
• Brick type containers of milk, juices, soups and food such as sugar, legumes, etc.
• The bread bags half paper and plastic too

In the yellow recycling bin you can place:

1. Recycle Plastic containers (Envases de plastico) – many of the plastic containers are made to easily be compacted.
2. Recycle Metal containers  (Envases de metalicos) tin or can = lata
   Please be sure to rinse these prior to recycling, to help keep the recycle bins clean and free from unwanted critters.
3. Recycle Plastic bags (Bolsas de plastico) – It is often good to just reuse your plastic bags, but when you are finished with them, please recycle.  A better option is to purchase the reusable bags from the supermarkets and limit your use of plastic bags.
4. Recycle Bricks or Tetra Pak (Bricks) – Most commonly used for packaging liquids like milk, juice, tomato sauce and more.
   

Blue Recycle Bins

• Recycle Paper (Papel) – standard office papers, magazines or newspaper.
• Recycle Cardboard (Cartón) – cardboard boxes, cereal boxes and the like.  (Not milk and juice, those go in the yellow)
• What to deposit: Newspapers, magazines, comics, cardboard, paper or cardboard packaging, brochures, envelopes, folios, advertising, folded cartons well folded, all kinds of cardboard boxes (breakfast cereals, cookies, shoes, precooked meals), paper, sheets, newspapers, magazines, notebooks, etc.

Solid Grey Bin

The bin without all of the fancy colors, on the far right in the photo above, is your standard rubbish bin or garbage can.  This is for organic materials or things that can’t be recycled.  These larger bins have now been placed near many of the recycle bins, versus the smaller cans on wheels for individual buildings.  This means you may need to walk a little further to dispose of your day to day rubbish.  On the bright side, it is better at keeping animals out of the bin and they can’t tip it over!

Green Dome Recycle Bin

Glass Bottles, Jars and Containers – do not include the metal lids to jars.

Appliances collection service in Javea

There is a free collection service of household appliances. Call 900 102 149 to arrange collection.