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Benidorm is carrying out an intensive cleaning of its beaches to prepare them for the first tourist events of the year

 

 

• The city is one of the few in the country that maintains cleaning and lifeguard services on its beaches throughout the year, with thousands of users even in the low season.

• Selective collection reaches one tonne of waste removed throughout 2024 

Benidorm City Council, through the company in charge of the integral management of the beaches, RA Benidorm, is carrying out an intensive cleaning of the city's sandbanks to prepare them for the first tourist events of this year. To do this, "and taking advantage of the moment when there are fewer people on the beaches, all the furniture, sunbeds, umbrellas and other items have been removed from Levante, Poniente and Mal Pas, to sift the surface of the beaches and thus turn over the sand", as reported by the councillor for the area, Mónica Gómez, who also explained that this turning over makes it possible that "with the ultraviolet action of the sun, a natural disinfection of the sand occurs, while the beaches are levelled and put in perfect condition".

These intensive cleaning tasks began on January 15 and have lasted for a whole month, during which time small repairs and improvements have also been made with the aim of “maintaining the excellent quality of the services offered by our beaches and which make them unique”, said the councillor. In this regard, Mónica Gómez recalled that Benidorm “is one of the few cities in Spain that keeps all beach services active, such as cleaning and lifeguard, rescue and Accessible Beaches, twelve months a year. Here we never close for the season”, after which she stressed that “it could not be any other way, if we take into account that even in the low season months the volume of users is very high”.

The municipal representative for Beaches and the Environment has taken advantage of these intensive cleaning tasks carried out on the beaches to publicise the actions related to the cleaning of our beaches that were carried out throughout 2024. Among them, that the city collected just over a tonne of separated waste last year, thanks to the selective collection implemented on the beaches to manage waste in a "more sustainable way and in line with the new times". 

The councillor has indicated that these data support "the importance that the care of our beaches and our environment has for this City Council, as well as the daily work we do to keep them in the best condition". 

Gómez explained that the total amount of packaging and paper and cardboard removed from the beaches by means of selective collection amounted to 1,160 kilograms, mostly concentrated during the months of June, July and September. “We aim to continue to raise awareness and educate all citizens on the importance of separating waste in all areas of daily life, including, of course, our time on the beach,” he said. 

As regards other types of collection related to the cleaning of the sands, the councillor explained that the beach cleaning company manually removed a total of 400,770 kilos of solid urban waste throughout the twelve months of the year in Levante, Poniente, Mal Pas and the coves. August was the month with the highest volume of waste removed – 92,610 kilograms –, followed by July and June, coinciding with what is traditionally the period of greatest tourist activity in the city. On the other hand, December was the month in which the lowest amount of MSW was collected, with a total volume of 9,160 kilos.
 

This section is one of those that best reflects the intensive use of the beaches during the twelve months of the year in Benidorm since, although during the summer season the figures obviously multiply, "the balance also shows that in the months of lower occupation, such as December, January or February, the volume of waste generated is also very high and we continue to clean both day and night with the same intensity, with an average of between thirty and twenty workers depending on the season," explained Mónica Gómez. 

Specifically, during the month of January 2023, the manual collection of urban solid waste reached 13,780 kilograms; in February, 11,860 kg.; in March the amount increased to 16,220 kg.; in April, to 19,340 kg., a figure that grew in May to 30,960 kg. In June, there was a new increase, reaching 53,840 kilograms, while in July and August the figures shot up to 72,420 and 92,610 kilograms, respectively. In September, the figures registered a decrease, with 41,920 kilograms collected. In the last quarter of the year, the figures fell again, with 22,960 kg in October; 15,700 in November and, finally, 9,160 kilograms in December. 

Another way of collecting waste on beaches is by means of screening machines, a system that also works 365 days a year and which throughout 2023 removed 166,840 kilograms of rubbish, with quantities ranging from 6,800 kilos in November – the month with the lowest volume – to 48,340 in April, the month in which the most waste was collected mechanically. 

The Councillor for Beaches and the Environment has pointed out that, in addition to the manual and mechanical work carried out on the sand, during the high season months beach cleaning is also reinforced by the sea, by means of a pelican boat to prevent plastics and other types of marine waste from ending up on the coast.

She also pointed out that, in addition to everything mentioned above, other actions are also carried out, such as treatments related to the presence of posidonia remains on the shore. In this regard, the Councillor for Beaches has recalled that in Benidorm the remains of this marine plant that are washed up on the shore are not collected, precisely because "they are the best natural protection barrier for our coastline and a sign of the good health of the water and the seabed." 

To conclude, the Councillor has stated that the data on the total collection of waste should lead us to "reflect and be aware of the enormous amount of waste we generate," after which she has made a call for awareness so that "we also take care of our coastline and try to reduce" the amount of waste that is deposited daily both in the sea and on the sand.