The goal is that by 2020 all European countries will recycle at least 50% of household waste. Spain keeps getting a failing grade when it comes to recycling. In 2016, Spain only recycled 29.7% of its municipal waste. The worst part, though, is that this statistic has been the same since 2010.
Over the last two years, the government has put a lot of effort into increasing recycling in Madrid. They have increased the number of communal trash containers that are located in the streets, and each neighborhood has bins where you can separate and recycle household waste. Information on recycling is also being made more available to raise awareness of the environmental issues at stake.
Bins are color coded to make recycling easier for the citizens and for those who work at the recycling centers. Here is the breakdown: blue bins are for paper and cardboard; green and round bins are for glass; yellow bins are for tin cans and plastics; and orange bins (which are less common) are for cooking oil.
Spain is still far away from the EU goal, but the good news is that according to a study done by Ecoembes, 71.9% of all packaging (light packaging paper and cardboard packaging) in Spain got recycled over a recent period. So it can be seen that the efforts of the government are working!
