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In Spain, a majority of people are recycling as a way of life

By Sancho in Spain l Published: Thursday, January 07 2010 14:56

GIBRALTAR -- When I met my good friend Prospero to chew the cud over breakfast in Jimena’s Vecina Bar last week he mentioned that later in the day he was going with a mutual friend to the local Punto Limpio recycling centre. What exciting lives we two old hacks lead – but the point is the fact that it was part of his day’s agenda didn’t seem in the least out of the ordinary. The reason I mention this is that two out of every three residents of Andalucía say they recycle their household waste of paper, glass and plastic “as a matter of habit”. Those are the conclusions of the Ecobarómetro de Andalucía 2009 produced by the Institute of Advanced Social Studies for the region’s ministry of the environment.

Of those questioned 65.3per cent said they sorted out their household waste for recycling whilst 27 per cent admitted they didn’t recycle at all.

Women are the most committed recyclers in the household (68.7 per cent) compared with men (62.4 per cent). Those aged between 45 and 59 years are tops in protecting the environment with 73.7 per cent sorting out their household items before disposal.

The better educated members of society seem to be taking the lead with 80.2 per cent with a university degree saying they recycle their waste compared with 56.7 of those with standard schooling.

So what is the profile of the non-recycler? According to the Ecobarometer he is male, under 30 without any further education on the issues. This same group says it is not worried about the environment.

Well you know what they say about statistics but what surprises me about these findings is that it seems to be the older generation – like Prospero and my good self, well educated coves that we are – who are in the vanguard here.

If you’d ask me to take a guess I would have said it was the youngsters who are the committed recyclers –but it seems “we” are the trend setters – and it’s many a year since either of us held that title!

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