This year, Benidorm residents have once again united behind the SEUR Foundation’s “Caps for a New Life” campaign, which Benidorm City Council supports to encourage the recycling of caps for a good cause: to give impoverished children access to medical care that is not paid for by the healthcare system or supplies that help them deal with physical issues they face that they are unable to get through other channels. The results of the 2024 campaign, in which the Foundation gathered almost 1.5 million caps placed by Benidorm citizens in the heart-shaped containers placed across the city, were revealed yesterday, Thursday 13th March, by Mónica Gómez, the Councillor for the Environment.

Gómez pointed out that “the proceeds from recycling these bottle caps go to helping children with medical needs, so we’re not only helping to reduce our environmental impact, but also to improve the quality of life for many children and their families.” The SEUR Foundation is in charge of gathering and transporting these bottle caps to a recycling business that sells compost per tonne at market value, he added.

According to the councillor, the total quantity gathered in Benidorm in the six heart-shaped containers that the City Council placed at various points across the city was 1,575,000 caps, weighing 3.15 tonnes, which equated to a 630 euro financial contribution.

She said that by recycling these caps, 4.73 tonnes of CO2, the primary gas responsible for climate change, have not been released into the atmosphere. That is the equivalent of 42,114 kilometres of travel, or little more than one full orbit of the Earth. In keeping with these equivalencies, the Environment Minister noted that, if arranged in a row, all of the caps would cover 47 kilometres, and that proper waste management would be equal to the CO2 absorbed by a forest of 788 trees in a year or that released by an apartment with the heating on continuously for nearly 19 years. This would further illustrate the impact of this initiative in Benidorm.

Els Tolls (Belgica Avenue), Rincón de Loix (Juan Fuster Zaragoza Street), La Cala (Secretary Juan Baldoví Street), Colonia Madrid (Llorca Linares Social Centre), and two in the central area—one on Maravall Street with Plaza Neptuno and another on Avenida de l’Aigüera, very close to the Town Hall—are the six containers that Gómez stated were installed in Benidorm to facilitate the collection of caps in all neighbourhoods.

He added that since the start of the “Caps for a New Life” project in 2011, more than €1.3 million has been raised to help approximately 200 youngsters from all around Spain with their orthopaedic or medical treatments. Leo, a young Benidorm resident, was one of them. A few years ago, he was given €3,200 to pay for his aquatic therapy sessions as a treatment for Hirschsprung’s disease, a disorder associated with Down syndrome.

This is why Mónica Gómez expressed her appreciation for “the involvement of the citizens of Benidorm, who from the very beginning have supported this initiative that seeks to improve the quality of life of children” and that “in addition to this charitable purpose, also has an impact on the environment by promoting plastic recycling, thereby reducing CO2 emissions.”

A 46-year-old Spanish man has been taken into custody by the Civil Guard on suspicion of arson in Torrevieja. Following an argument, the alleged offender set fire to one car, which spread to two other cars parked on the same block. Three cars were damaged as a result of the fire.

The car he had previously argued about caught fire at about 5:30 a.m. the same day, and the flames spread to two other cars that were parked next to it. Three of them were badly damaged, and two were totally torched. Firefighters eventually managed to contain the fire.

Investigators started looking into the arsonist as soon as the fire was contained. Officers found the suspect close to the fire and verified his involvement after gathering and examining all the evidence. In the end, he fulfilled the threats.

After being taken before Torrevieja Investigating Court No. 2, the 46-year-old Spanish man who was accused with arson and had no past criminal history was released on bail.

Only a few weeks remain until Alicante-Elche Airport’s peak season begins. a strong season that, like the one before it in 2024, is expected to break records. A considerable rise over last year’s numbers, 14.7 million seats have been scheduled thus far between March 31st and the end of October.

With around 818,000 passengers, Norwegians rank as the sixth-largest market for Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, with traffic from Northern Europe increasing annually. Another important source of passengers for airlines is Sweden, which ranks seventh, and Denmark, which is farther away.

As a result, the airline that will handle 932,000 passengers in 2024 and rank fifth in terms of passenger volume at Alicante-Elche Airport is now prepared for the summer. a time when Norwegian Airlines expands its reach in a few of its locations and adds a new route.

The Norwegian airline will run a total of 18 routes to destinations in Northern Europe, with five aircraft located at its Alicante hub. The new route, which will feature two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays, to Riga, the capital of Latvia, is especially noteworthy. Norway, Denmark, and Germany are further locations.

Norwegian Destinations

Denmark : Aalborg, Aarhus, Billund and Copenhagen.

Finland : Helsinki.

Germany : Munich.

Latvia : Riga

Norway : Aalesund, Bergen, Haugesund, Oslo, Stavanger, Trondheim and Sandefjord/Torp.

Sweden : Arlanda/Stockholm, Gothenburg, Skavsta/Stockholm and Växjö.

Norwegian will operate flights from Alicante-Elche Airport to a total of 18 cities. Additionally, the airline is expanding the frequency of a number of links, such as those to Sweden’s Arlanda and Skavsta, Norway’s Bergen, Haugesund, and Aalesund.

With up to 18 weekly flights—and more than 20 during the summer—the route that connects Alicante with Oslo Airport will have the maximum frequencies, while the Stockholm Arlanda connection will see an increase to 14. There will be nine weekly flights to Bergen, another route with greater frequency.

Aalesund in Norway and Aarhus and Aalborg in Denmark, on the other hand, only have one weekly flight during the busiest time of year.