Waste is perhaps society's most visible footprint. Just in the Balearic Islands, each person generates more than 2kg of rubbish per day. That's more than 760kg per person every year.
The creation of waste is a cultural problem, created by a throwaway culture based on:
- the over-exploitation of natural resources
- production and transportation on a large scale
- irresponsible and impulsive product consumption.
What does Amics de la Terra do?
Amics de la Terra understands that waste is an important problem. For this reason we carry out a range of activities, from raising public awareness through to political action.
Some of the projects in which we have taken part include:
- awareness raising at markets and fairs to reduce consumption of single-use bags
- establishing 'bag-free zones' in some city stores
- celebrating important dates to promote waste reduction (International Bag-Free Day, European Week for Waste Reduction)
- political strategies to promote the use of baskets or trolleys
- preparing statements to the Ley Estatal de Residuos (state waste law)
- translating and communicating reports on natural resource usage
- participating (along with institutions such as Greenpeace, GOB, Fundació Deixalles or ALCAIB) in the platform for the reduction of waste in Mallorca to promote waste reduction measures and packaging reuse systems
- collaborating with RedTorna, a state-wide lobby group, to promote the inclusion of waste deposit and return systems ('sistemas de depósito, devolución y retorno de residuos') in Spanish legislation.
Composting
Home composting
Amics de la Terra was the first to promote composting in Mallorca. Since 1999, we have been pushing home composting as an efficient way to greatly reduce organic waste.
More than 1500 families have taken part in workshops and courses organised by Amics de la Terra in partnership with various island councils and institutions.
About 40% of our bin bags comprise organic materials that, usually, end up on the rubbish tip or in the incinerator. However, it's easy to turn these into compost.
Making compost is an essential way to help reduce, recycle and re-use organic waste. Composting imitates the natural process of creating vital nutrients for conserving vegetation cover and thereby avoiding the breakdown of the natural environment.
Composting courses
If you'd like to go to a composting course, get in touch with us. We've also written a basic composting handbook, which you can download.