Celebrating twenty years of helping people

THE Deixalles Foundation, which specialises in recycling rubbish and furniture, yesterday celebrated its 20th anniversary. During the past 20 years, it has trained 2'000 workers with difficulties in entering the labour market, and has provided job guidance for nearly 5'000 people more. The figures were revealed yesterday by Antoni Pons, the Foundation's director general, who also underlined the growth experienced by the entity, founded by the Bishop of Majorca's Office and PIMEM, the Federation of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Majorca. He said that Deixalles started out with a single van ceded by Radio Popular in 1986, and last year, collected 3'149 tons of rubbish for recycling at its branches in Palma, Felanitx, Soller, the east of Majorca, Calvia and Ibiza. Antoni Garau, the chairman of the Foundation's board, said that the first objective of Deixalles, over and above the environmental tasks it covers with recycling, is “the reinsertion of the underprivileged in the labour market and in society.” He added that the Foundation has an annual average of 300 trainees at its workshops.
Pons recalled “the difficult early years” when the Foundation only had two workers and a volunteer who stored material in a barn ceded by the Bishop's Office. He then glossed over the most important events of the past 20 years, during which the Foundation has grown so that it now has 200 employees and six branches. Relations with the administration have been strengthened, he said, and the Foundation has collaborated with groups such as the environmental watchdog GOB. There have even been international projects in El Salvador and Venezuela, he added.
The Foundation's annual report shows that its income last year was 5.8 million euros, 2.1 million coming from official grants and 2.7 million from collaboration agreements. Its outgoings were 5.6 million euros.
Marking yesterday's anniversary, Deixalles was visited by Maria Antonia Munar, president of the Council of Majorca; Balearic minister of labour Cristobal Huguet, and Mayor of Palma Catalina Cirer, among other authorities. Celebrations continued in the afternoon, with games for the children of the workers and helpers, and Majorcan dancing.