Costa Blanca

More than 1.5 million bottle caps are donated by Benidorm to the “Caps for a New Life” charity initiative

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.”

Discover more from Costa Blanca Daily

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Related Topics:Benidorm Children Council Environment Madrid Market Social Spain

Up Next

Waiter arrested for stealing 8,300 euros from a bar in Benidorm

Don't Miss

Man arrested for setting fire to three cars in Torrevieja

Click to comment

Costa Blanca

59-year-old scooter rider dies on the Orihuela Costa

On Wednesday afternoon, 2nd April, on the Orihuela Costa, a 59-year-old man died while riding an electric scooter on Calle Baikal, close to La Florida urbanisation.

A medical team was sent to the scene after the Emergency Information and Coordination Centre (Cicu) got a report of a scooter fall.

The Urgent Medical Aid Service (Samu) staff used advanced cardiac resuscitation and other stabilisation procedures after discovering the man on the ground.

Since there was no reaction to the resuscitation attempts, the medical staff could only confirm the 59-year-old man’s death.

Accidents involving scooters

Within a week, there have been two more scooter accidents in the province. The first was a collision with a tram on line 2 in Alicante on 28th March.

Two ambulances were called to the scene of the incident, which happened close to San Vicente del Raspeig’s Outlet shopping centre.

The 32-year-old male was transported to the Alicante hospital after suffering several injuries, including a fractured leg.

Last Monday was the second accident. On the same line, a 17-year-old girl riding a scooter collided with another tram. She was bruised and taken to Sant Joan Hospital.

Discover more from Costa Blanca Daily

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Costa Blanca

Finestrat stops issuing new licenses for tourists accommodation

Due to rising demand and the fact that vacation rentals are more profitable than long-term rentals, there has been a notable surge in these types of rentals in the major Costa Blanca attractions in recent years.

Numerous city councils have previously attempted to limit this practice because many experts now identify it as one of the primary reasons for the astounding and unchecked increase in rental rates. Finestrat is the most recent to do so, having decided in a plenary session to halt the issuance of new licences until a new ordinance governing the industry is written.

When asked why the local government team came to this conclusion, Víctor Llinares, the Urban Planning Councillor for Finestrat, admitted that “everyone is aware of the proliferation of housing in this area and the problems that are sometimes arising from making this use compatible with residential use.”

In this sense, the council’s goal is to create order between these two regions, which are now hazy. It has been decided, according to Linares, to temporarily halt the granting of certificates “in order to study the draughting of an ordinance that specifically regulates in which areas and under what conditions certificates of compatibility for tourist use will be granted from now on.”

Thus, Finestrat joins other towns like Altea, l’Alfàs del Pi, and Polop in the Marina Baixa zone, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations along the entire Alicante coast, where permits are stopped.

Additionally, the plenary assembly in Benidorm on Monday, 31st March, approved giving the local police and the municipal inspection corps the authority that has previously been held by the regional governments to examine these accommodations and punish those who break these rules.

Discover more from Costa Blanca Daily

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Costa Blanca

The Alicante TRAM’s cardboard tickets are going to be discontinued

According to Vectalia, non-personalised media will no longer be accepted as of May 1st, 2025, and the new MOBILIS 30 cards—which will be made of plastic and will be branded with the holder’s photo and information—will be the only way for young people under 31 to use free public transport. These cards will also be the basis for future discounts that will be applied starting on June 30th. This means that the cardboard passes that up until now allowed young people to use certain public transport.

The Alicante TRAM system, the Valencia Metropolitan Transport System, the Castelló TRAM system, and certain Alicante Metropolitan TAM lines are now covered by the MOBILIS 30 card.

For whom is this new card intended?

The new card is designed for residents of Spain who are at least 31 years old. You need to provide the following paperwork in order to apply:

Age range: 14–30 years old; live in Spain; and a valid youth card.
Spanish family book for children under 14 without a national ID.
Foreign nationals, both EU and non-EU, are required to present a resident certificate from the General Police Directorate as proof of their lawful residency in Spain.

How can I obtain my updated coupon?

The application can be filled out online and sent to the address listed on the application by standard mail. To apply for the voucher, visit the website established by the Valencian government.

Furthermore, the TRAM’s internal machinery are also capable of carrying out this upgrade.

What is the card’s amount?

The card is priced at 4 euros. The service will be free when you buy the card.

Which lines of public transport are covered by the pass?

The lines that take the MOBILIS 30 card are listed here.

( 21 ) 21: Alicante – San Juan Beach – El Campello
( 21N ) 21N: Alicante (Puerta del Mar Square) – San Juan Beach – El Campello
( 23 ) 23: Alicante – Hospital de Sant Joan – Sant Joan – Mutxamel
( 23N ) 23N: Alicante (Plaza Puerta del Mar) – Sant Joan – Mutxamel
( 24 ) 24: Alicante (Bus Station) – University of Alicante – San Vicente del Raspeig
( 24N ) 24N: Alicante (Plaza del Mar) – University of Alicante – San Vicente del Raspeig
( 30 ) 30: San Vicente del Raspeig – La Alcoraya
( 31 ) 31: Mutxamel – San Juan – Playa San Juan
( 36 ) 36: San Gabriel – University
( 38 ) 38: San Juan Beach – Sant Joan Hospital – University