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13.96 kilograms per person sounds small until you multiply it across the whole population – and even then, the figures from Ecoembes show there's still considerable room to grow.
Ecoembes, the organisation responsible for managing packaging recycling in Spain, published figures showing that during 2017 each inhabitant recycled an average of 13.96 kilograms of packaging – a number that, while encouraging compared to previous years, also highlights how much packaging waste is generated per person overall.
The yellow container is the most visible part of Spain's packaging recycling system, used for plastic, metal and carton packaging. The volumes collected through these containers depend heavily on how consistently households separate packaging at source – and on what happens to that material once it arrives at a sorting facility, where optical sorting technology separates the different packaging types so each can be recycled appropriately.
Not all packaging that reaches the yellow container is straightforward to recycle. Multilayer materials, packaging contaminated with food residue, and items made from less common plastics can all complicate the sorting process, reducing the proportion of collected material that ends up genuinely recycled rather than rejected during processing.
Ecoembes and similar organisations run ongoing awareness campaigns aimed at improving how households separate their packaging waste in the first place. Better separation at source reduces contamination further down the line, making the job of sorting facilities easier and increasing the proportion of collected packaging that's recovered as usable material.
Discover ECOPACK for packaging sortingGet in touch with our team to discover how PICVISA's optical sorting and robotics solutions can fit your recycling operation.