Campaign hopes to collect 450´000 cans for recycling

The eighth edition of the ‘don't throw it away' campaign for the recycling of soft drinks cans, was presented yesterday, although it has actually been in operation since Monday. It aims to collect 450'000 cans which will be recycled, and the proceeds will go to the workshops run by Cáritas and the Talleres de Inserción, which help people who have difficulty holding down a steady job to earn money and regain a place in society. The campaign is run by the Deixalles Foundation which will give one euro (166 ptas) to charity for every 20 empty drink cans, compared to the ten pesetas per can offered in previous campaigns. The campaign was presented by Antoni Gomila, president of the PIME (small and medium sized business association) Foundation, in the presence of representatives of the Foundation, Caritas, the Council of Majorca and Sa Nostra. Josep Noguera, the diocesan representative of Cáritas, said that this initiative “demonstrates the social aspect of charity and gives a different idea of Cáritas and its work.” The campaign will continue until March. Four hundred blue containers for the cans have been distributed among local schools. Gomila said that businessmen were “not just interested in making money, but are aware of the problems affecting the environment, in this case, problems generated by rubbish and the problems affecting the disadvantaged.” Last year, more than 460'000 cans were collected, 54 per cent of them by school children. This raised 2.5 million pesetas which went to the toy workshop run by Caritas. Miquel Angel Borras, head of the Council of Majorca's environment department, praised the scheme.