CETAQUA encourages future generations to recycle

On Tuesday 19 July, the European project ECOVAL SUDOE presented its model of management and recovery of sewage sludge and urban organic waste to students participating in the Aula de la Naturaleza de Oira, organised by the Council of Ourense. CETAQUA Galicia, leader of the project, was in charge of transmitting to the children the importance of the correct separation of waste to achieve a more sustainable world. The active participation of the 12 children aged between 4 and 12 years old was the key piece of the session.

Ánder Castro, the CETAQUA technician in charge of the training, showed the positive impact that recycling has on our lives, explaining the processes involved in this type of circular economy and how each individual can collaborate at home, achieving a great collective benefit. Of course, the importance of avoiding the use of the toilet as a waste bin was also highlighted, given that wipes, plasters and swabs (among other things) can cause major environmental problems when they accumulate in the sewage networks of our cities, as well as in wastewater treatment plants. In addition, it was stressed how important it is to avoid food waste, promoting controlled purchasing and responsible consumption.

 

Science in the service of citizenship

The talk was structured in an informative part in which the children were shown content related to waste management, showing them the different bins that currently exist, with special emphasis on the brown bin, which is still in the implementation phase. Subsequently, videos related to the subject were shown and interactive games developed within the framework of the “A new bin, are you in?” campaign of the ECOVAL project were played. The group showed great interest in the content of the activity. The ease with which they were able to separate the different types of waste at the end of the activity stood out. In this way, science was put at the service of the society, transferring the knowledge generated in the project in a simple and understandable way, in order to raise environmental awareness.

CETAQUA Galicia will give another training related to recycling in the same Aula de la Naturaleza on 25 August 2022. The company Viaqua is also actively participating in it through its Aqualoxia activity, in which the knowledge of the integral urban water cycle is highlighted.

Ecoval visits Colexio Mendiño

Ecoval llevará su campaña al Colexio Mendiño

On Wednesday 18 May, the European project ECOVAL SUDOE presented its model of management and recovery of sewage sludge and organic waste to the students of the Mendiño school in Vigo.

Continuing with the values of the European Week for Waste Reduction, Ecoval Sudoe takes its campaign “Another bin, than brown” to Colexio Mendiño, a vocational training centre in the city of Oviedo.

The centre trains young people aged between 15 and 25 in administrative management, commerce and auxiliary nursing care. Although they are three very different branches, the Mendiño School strives to instil transversal values such as the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and separating waste correctly for recycling.

The Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA), communication leader in the project, organised a day in which the students reinforced their knowledge about how to separate waste, with special interest in the new brown bin, the one for organic waste. This container will be a reality in all European cities in 2024 and is already starting to be implemented in the city of Vigo. There are currently only 70 units of these containers, but the procedure has already begun to install 1950 more units.

The event took place on 18 May, with morning and afternoon sessions, taking advantage of the proximity of International Recycling Day, which is celebrated every year on 17 May. The students were able to learn how much organic and inorganic waste we generate annually, the current problem they pose and the solutions proposed by the project, based on their separation and recovery as Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA), a product in great demand by various industries and which is currently obtained mainly from oil.

The talk included theoretical explanations of the project framework, a small question and answer competition and a space to discuss the topics of most interest to the students, as well as any doubts they might have. In this way, the knowledge generated by the project was brought closer to the citizens in a pleasant and easy to understand way, placing science at the service of the population and favouring awareness and sensitisation on sustainability issues.

This activity follows the line of the presence of the project in schools, which began with the implementation of containers in schools in Ourense and will continue with another similar visit next week to the school of Vilaboa.