The regional and local festivals They are one of the events of the year in each town and community. However, they also generate a sustainability problem due to the generation of waste that involves. Julen Rekondoexpert in environmental issues and National Environment Award winner, explains in COPE that The parties are a problem and a “dirty thing.”
The solutions and proposals arrive late, and will still take twelve more months to be applied
On April 17, the Government of Navarra approved a Foral Decree on Public Events and Sustainability, prepared by the Department of Rural Development and Environment, to prevent the generation of waste and improve its management and environmental sustainability in public events. The decree closes the door to single-use plastics in public events promoted by the Administration, among other issues.
Did this decree really It will allow us to avoid seeing the streets and squares as authentic garbage dumps during Sanfermines and other festivals in our towns.? Julen Rekondo answers this and other questions.
To begin with, what does the Regional Decree on Public Events and Sustainability say? Is the filth that floods the floors of the streets and squares of Pamplona and Navarrese towns a problem of regulations, or of civility, of environmental education, of street cleaning and placement of different containers to deposit different waste. ..?
The transition to a more sustainable society, that is, aua more environmentally friendly society and more socially just, means accepting specific environmental commitments, which extends to all fields of human activity.
The festivals, among other public events, They are one of the most celebrated moments in Navarra, through which different issues of various kinds are expressed, from traditions to manifestations of collective feelings. And also in those moments and in those spaces it is necessary to act according to the environment and the surroundings. This means working so that the party, or other events, generates the minimum amount of waste possible and that these are collected separately, so that they can later be reused and recycled, and energy resources are saved, among other things. Although it should also be said that Party and Sustainability are somewhat opposite elements, and it is worth asking if so much consumerism is needed at parties, and in everyday life, but I will leave this question for another occasion.
For parties to be sustainable, both social criteria and purely environmental criteria must be considered and what regulations apply. The commitment to increasingly massive parties, in addition to wealth for the service sector, also brings environmental impacts, and even more worrying in the climate emergency situation in which we find ourselves.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, A sustainable event is one that has been designedorganized and carried out minimizing potential negative impacts on the environment and leaving a positive legacy for the organizing entities and the agents involved.
On April 17, the Government of Navarra approved a Regional Decree on Public Events and Sustainability, prepared by the Department of Rural Development and Environment, to prevent the generation of waste and improve its management and environmental sustainability in public events. The decree closes the door to single-use plastics in public events promoted by the Administration.
The Minister of Rural Development and Environment, José Maria Aierdi, pointed out that “This decree is an important step in the zero waste policy, in this case, in the events promoted by public administrations and whose performance must be exemplary”. “It is also a way of understanding that correct waste management must be incorporated into all areas without exception and that it is also possible in exceptional or mass events. In addition, this decree also combats an important phenomenon that must be addressed as it is that of scattered garbage, that is, that which is abandoned in the environment”.
He also came to say that the Foral Decree will apply to all events held in the Foral Community that are sponsored, organized or subsidized by public administrations and/or for those that require license or special authorization or express administrative authorizationin accordance with the provisions of the regional law regulating public spectacles and recreational activities, or regulations that replace it.
The decree will also apply in situations such as the Sanfermines or the patron saint festivities of the towns Navarrese. “There will be different activities that must meet the objectives,” explained the counselor. The Foral Decree will come into force 12 months after its publication in the Official Gazette of Navarra (BON), and, therefore, the rule will not yet be in force for these Sanfermines.
Now, is this a problem of regulations, or of civility, of environmental education, street cleaning and placement of different containers where to deposit the different waste…? In my opinion, it's a little bit of everything.
Welcome to be the norm, if it really serves for the scenes we see in the Sanfermines are avoided and in most of the festivals in our towns, in which the streets and squares are authentic landfills, and the largest amount of waste is collected separately and can be recovered later.
At first, I will say that I do not understand why the decree It took so long to be approvedsince there was a draft decree in 2022. In addition, many of the issues raised in the Regional Decree on Public Events and Sustainability are already included in Regional Law 14/2018, of June 18, on Waste and its Taxation , a pioneering law in the entire Spanish State, exemplary and very ambitious, approved six years ago and which is mandatory.
But leaving aside these types of issues, there are some other things that catch my attention, such as when it is said in the aforementioned provincial decree that “A Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR) will be promoted provided that said system is implemented in the Foral Community or in the local entity in which the event takes place”…. So, when?
I say this, because in the regional law on Waste and its Taxation the carrying out of a pilot test for possible implementation of the Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR), and it has not been done yet. To allude to the promotion of SDDR in public events is to say nothing.
Like the case of the SDDR, it could be applied to other issues that are indicated in the Foral Decree on Public Events and Sustainability, such as when it is said that “the possibility of drinking tap water in glasses should be offered or reusable bottles, free of charge and complementary to the establishment's offer”, when that is already considered in the aforementioned law. And, I could continue with more examples.
Reusable cups
But also in the heat of the Foral Decree, various questions arise, such as Are the reusable cups that have been so promoted in recent years useful for anything?, when in a fairly high percentage the organizers collect them at the end and destroy them, going to the landfill? How will the sale in supermarkets and stores of the essential elements of a bottle, such as plastic bottles, plastic bags,….. be regulated?
The Foral Decree approved by the Government of Navarra on April 17, 18 months after a draft decree was prepared, It is late, and it will still take twelve more months to be implemented, to say quite little. Most of the decree are definitions and recommendations, and the mandatory regulatory part is minimal, and is fundamentally included in the Regional Law on Waste and its Taxation or other legislation.