Every year in Gibraltar, and around the world, hundreds of thousands of tons of waste are disposed of via landfill and incineration, representing a lost opportunity to recover and reuse materials. Recycling is a key part of the circular economy, helping to protect and preserve natural resources whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
A statement from the Government follows below:
Recycling rates in Gibraltar remain low, at about 12% overall, despite the fact that the target is for 55% of all waste to be recycled by the end of this year.
March 18th marks World Recycling Day. Created in 2018 it is a day to recognize and celebrate the importance that recycling plays in preserving precious resources and securing the future of our planet. In collaboration with OTWO,the ESG,the Environmental Agency, Recycle.gi and Britannia, the Department of the Environment and Climate Change is launching a public survey to try and understand a little more about why people do and do not recycle and to ask for feedback on how the current service can be improved.
The survey can be found online at https://form.jotform.com/250723851431351. The initiative will also involve collecting responses during public awareness events.
As the climate emergency continues to unfold, efforts need to be stepped up across all sectors and itis hoped that working collaboratively with the community,we can make significant changes to the way we produce and manage our waste.
The public is reminded that separated organic material, paper & cardboard, plastics and cans, glass, waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste oils and textiles can all now be recycled in Gibraltar. Details of where bins are located and what can be put in each coloured bin can be found online at https://thinkinggreen.gov.gi/waste/recycling
The ESG asks Government to inform the public about the outcome of the tests it recently ran on 2 of its buses using HVO fuel (hydrogenated vegetable oil).
With the knowledge that this fuel will help reduce air pollution on our roads it’s hoped the rollout to all government and commercial vehicles will happen as soon as possible.The group hopes details of the testing can be shared as it’s clearly a matter of great public interest. Additionally calls upon Calypso to confirm whether all 5 of its newer, low emission buses are now operational. Given the significant impact this can also have in our airspace it would be positive to have this also confirmed.
The ESG is pleased to read in the Gibraltar Chronicle about the electric bus currently being trialled. The article identifies as being 1 of 2 being trialled and the ESG is excited at the thought of this important step coming from the Ministry of Transport. We will be requesting more information from the Ministry as to whether the other bus being trialled is from the same supplier, and also, bearing in mind that these units are electric, if they are looking at particular routes. The photograph in the article shows quite a compact vehicle , so ideal for our Upper Town route.
The ESG hopes the trials have a successful conclusion leading to the introduction of electric buses by the Gibraltar Bus Company and, as with the HVO trials, that information on all results are made public.
The ESG asks Government to inform the public about the outcome of the tests it recently ran on 2 of its buses using HVO fuel (hydrogenated vegetable oil).
With the knowledge that this fuel will help reduce air pollution on our roads it’s hoped the rollout to all government and commercial vehicles will happen as soon as possible. The group hopes details of the testing can be shared as it’s clearly a matter of great public interest.
The ESG additionally calls upon Calypso to confirm whether all 5 of its newer, low emission buses are now operational. Given the significant impact this can also have in our airspace it would be positive to have this also confirmed.
The ESG shares the community’s concerns regarding the sudden and totally unexpected pollution tax on 10yr old cars (regardless of emissions and type) announced by the Chief Minister yesterday. A lot has been said, the measure was reversed, but the situation understandably remains uncertain.
As with the Linewall Road closure, the ESG, campaigning for a healthier
environment, at the time did not totally reject the idea behind the sudden
decision of road closure to cars, but felt it needed far greater planning and
delivered on a cross party basis.
Any measure to clean up our environment
specifically from transport has been high on our agenda for years. This goes
for road and marine transport. Our legally binding Climate Change Strategy
contains targets for this purpose. We believe the community needs to get behind
the changes we need to make (once fully discussed and analysed, ideally via a
public parliamentary select committee with input from experts and interested
parties) to achieve a healthier environment. Decisions should, in our view, be
made here and not announced via an annual budget.
The strategy is a living document and
should be updated to reflect impacts as understood from ongoing data gathering
and changes going forward. Our major turnover on fossil fuel sales results
in a very large carbon footprint but also leads to raised levels of pollution
locally, calling for the divestment of oil as an income stream in the longer
term.
The ESG have over the years pushed for urgent action to be taken on ageing vehicle fleets, especially in the commercial and industrial sectors where impacts are greatest. Our second hand bus fleet has been a major concern for us as we continue to lobby for these to be replaced. We have pushed for best practice to be applied, through incentives, penalties and the setting up of appropriate economic support. These, surely should be priority for action.
We want to see roadside pollution disappear. We want to see marine vessels clean up their activity. This will involve focus and analysis and we believe looking at emissions and fuel use would be a better place to start in cutting back on poisons in our environment.
However, some law changes are also imperative, for example, we have a law on emissions today which permits vehicles to pollute to their year of manufacture. This is totally at odds with the effort to clean up our environment and certainly conflicts with a tax payable allowing such cars to be driven. This must change! Emissions should be regulated on safety levels alone which probably means resourcing the MOT centre to roll out a more stringent and reliable role.
However, while we have and wish to continue to have, an open border
policy we have no means to control the entry of illegally polluting motorised
vehicles. This means that as we work to push up stds on our performances, we remain vulnerable to imported pollution too. This needs to be examined at a European level.
The possibility of a larger and more active airport means rising air
pollution from there too, another transport impact.
Finally, and unfortunately as is often the case in our homeland, we face
the prospect of yet another Treaty where questions loom also for our
environment and how this could be further threatened or actively improved in
the outcome, but we don’t yet know and this creates concerns and anxiety.
The ESG hopes we will forge a way through and see community support in measures taken to improve our health and our precious environment, while reducing our impacts on the wider Climate, but there will be many challenges ahead.
“The ESG has
publicly campaigned and directly lobbied for the urgent update of the current
Development Plan, which the group believes has not been fit for purpose for
some years now. We welcome this important step.
There are many
issues which affect planning not least geopolitics, economics, and the wider
environment including sustainability and climate change. The last few decades
have witnessed major and multiple,
transformational development in Gibraltar which has highlighted the need to
rapidly review, control and plan holistically, inclusively, while also
respecting existing developments and residential areas. This does not happen sufficiently
today.
“In our view the next development plan can therefore not come forward too soon and we hope every effort will be made to keep the drafting and consultation period as efficient as possible”, says a spokesperson.
“While
a lot of Gibraltar’s spaces have
already been filled with more also earmarked for development, this should not
stop us, as a community, from demanding a planning system we feel better
represents the Gibraltar we want to see and live in. This means greater
controls in developed zones to protect people’s quality of life and see new
developments enhance rather than obliterate or significantly reduce their
standard of living. It also means we should already have in place environmental
legislation to ensure that all new build follows highest practices to include
greatest ability to be sustainable..in practice, as well as during the
construction period.
The ESG believes it’s essential also to protect Gibraltar’s natural beauty and vistas which sets us apart from other nations and attracts visitors. This important element in planning should also be included in the new plan as well as safeguarding our green spaces.
The ESG hopes that a new development plan will also include the many sensible and forward looking recommendations made by a number of key contributors at the Aspire Conference held in Gibraltar recently on quality community development. These would guide architects and developers from the start of any project and take responsibility for the Gibraltar we want to live in rather than place that instead onto the ‘greener developer’. We hope the consultation period will enable meaningful public feedback because we understand that our population will grow, and we all want to house our families here and this means a short, medium to longterm plan is essential.
La flora autóctona del Estrecho de
Gibraltar comienza a adaptarse a la presencia de la alga invasora Rugulopteryx okamurae en la Bahía
de Algeciras. Es una de las
conclusiones del amplio estudio sobre esta especie realizado por la Universidad de Sevilla con el patrocinio de la
Fundación Cepsa que han sido presentadas este viernes por
el científico José Carlos García en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Algeciras.
El catedrático de La LíneaJosé Carlos
García ha incidido en que se está apreciando como el ecosistema
local está empezando a regular, creando
microorganismos que viven ya sobre la propia alga,
colocándose encima.
El catedrático inició
su presentación aludiendo a que las conclusiones del estudio, que ha durado
cinco años, son “difíciles de digerir” porque no hay precedente de
ninguna invasión de algas en el mundo de este nivel, con un proceso
reproductivo que la hace intratable,
“por lo que la única esperanza es que el ecosistema local la ponga en su sitio como ha
pasado con otras especies invasoras en otras partes del mundo”.
García ha asegurado que el daño
ecológico -desde 2015 que es cuando se detectó por primera vez- ha sido “estratosférico“. Se trata de
una especie competitiva de primer orden con una gran capacidad de adaptación a
una zona que no es suya y que además está cargada de sustancias químicas que la
hacen prácticamente incomestible para
la fauna.
La investigación, que se ha realizado en
prácticamente toda la Bahía de Algeciras, estudiando tanto la superficie como
debajo del agua, ha abierto otras líneas de trabajo en un ámbito más positivo
para aprovechar estas algas. Se trata de la realización de fertilizantes de calidad en los
que trabaja la Universidad de
Sevilla en colaboración con la Universidad de Extremadura; la
creación de biometano y
productos farmacológicos y
de parafarmacia,
donde ha empezado a trabajar la Facultad de Farmacia de la Universidad de
Sevilla.
García ha añadido que la arribazón que sale a la playa
es el principal problema al que tienen que enfrentarse los ayuntamientos, limpiando las playas,
muchas veces llevándose la arena con las palas, pero apuntó que el impacto real
está debajo del agua dónde se ve que “se lo ha llevado todo por
delante”.
El estudio informa de las diferentes
vertientes de entrada de la alga asiática en el Estrecho. El científico insiste en
que los plásticos han
tenido mucho que ver en su expansión. La especie invasora se coloca sobre este
material flotante y se hunden ayudando a su dispersión. Asegura que el agua de lastre ha sido uno de
las entradas pero no la más importante, el transporte de mercancías y la
descontrol de la acuicultura -crianza
de especies acuáticas vegetales y animales-, han tenido mucho que ver, según
García. “En el Mediterráneo
oriental, la entrada del alga que ya se está viendo en Marsella y otros puntos ha sido
por la acuicultura”, apunta García.
El biofuling, incrustaciones de micoorganismos en los cascos
de los barcos, es otra de las vías de entrada importante a través de las
embarcaciones de recreo que permanecen años atracadas en puertos.
En cuanto a la dispersión de la Rugulopteryx okamurae,la investigación concluye que se
adapta también a la zona umbría y se sitúa en las rocas. “Con las cámaras
instaladas hemos visto como rodean a las algas locales y le quitan el
sitio”, asegura García. “Ha cambiado el ecosistema pero hay
algunos aspectos positivos. Los peces se están comiendo los crustáceos que ya
viven sobre las algas”, concluye el científico.
‘Climate Change is in the spotlight with COP28 currently underway in Dubai. Amidst controversies surrounding this oil-producing nation hosting such an event, there is regardless intense discussion and pressure for the necessary actions to be taken urgently. The Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Dr. John Cortes, is present at this conference and we hope it will also translate into action taken in Gibraltar.
We have yet to see a date announced for the long-awaited first sitting of the Cross Party Parliamentary Select Committee on Climate Change, to be held before the end of the year as promised by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo during the last elections and reiterated at a recent parliamentary session.
“We hope to hear from the Minister of his plans at such a meeting, following his attendance at COP28,” said a spokesperson.’
