In a square where people gather for a verbena in the evening, the same traces of celebration usually appear: plastic cups, cardboard boxes, bottles and food leftovers. Municipalities in the Consorci de Residus management area (COR V5) can now request special containers for such events in advance — the consortium has a total of 104 units at its disposal.
COR announced this initiative on 8 September, calling it «En festes no et deixes el COR» — roughly, “At festivities, don’t forget COR”. The programme is intended for 93 municipalities and, according to the consortium’s description, is meant to help separate waste right where it is generated: at concerts, communal meals, street festivities and association gatherings.
A celebration begins with a place for a bottle
The most practical part of COR’s idea is not a call to be more environmentally aware, but the option to select containers for a specific event. A municipality or group can request the necessary fractions according to the event format, venue and expected number of visitors, the consortium reports.
The set includes 20 yellow containers for light packaging, 22 blue ones for paper and cardboard, 31 brown ones for organic waste and 31 green ones for glass. These figures add up to 104 units: not a uniform line of identical bins, but a supply that can be distributed among different festivities.
For someone in the square, this changes one small but important thing: the right container is nearby not only in everyday urban life, but also at the moment when they may be holding a plate, a bottle and a paper napkin at the same time. COR explains that separating waste on site prevents different fractions from being mixed from the outset.
Why an ordinary celebration needs a separate plan
On a weekday, waste is generated across the city gradually. At a celebration, it appears in bursts: after dinner, at the end of a concert or following a communal toast, several dozen people dispose of packaging, glass and organic waste at the same time. COR identifies precisely these periods of unusually high, short-term waste generation as the programme’s main area of application.
According to the consortium, the containers are intended for patronales, verbenas, concerts, communal feasts, cultural events and association gatherings. What matters about the list is not so much its breadth as the familiarity of these scenes: it is not about a rare festival, but events that regularly appear in the calendars of small municipalities.
If there is a lot of packaging at the venue, organisers may need yellow units; if food is planned, brown ones; if participants will be unpacking boxes or using paper materials, blue ones. This is not a new sorting system, but the transfer of familiar rules to places where, over a short period of time, the load becomes noticeably greater, COR reports.
Sorting that is visible before the concert ends
COR believes that an event’s sustainability should be considered during its preparation, rather than only after the square has already been cleaned. This approach turns containers into part of organising a celebration, alongside the stage, tables and visitor routes.
The consortium links early separation with the subsequent collection and treatment of each fraction. In its assessment, when glass, organic waste, cardboard and packaging are not mixed at the very beginning, this helps improve the quality of materials that can be recovered.
For the organiser, there is also a very practical task here: to consider not only how many people will attend, but what they will be doing at the venue. Will there be a communal dinner? Will food boxes be needed? Will a bar open? COR’s material explicitly mentions the possibility of adapting the request to the space and expected attendance.
“Responsibility is shared,” says COR president Elio Cabanes.
What this means for residents of 93 municipalities
The initiative concerns more than just municipal services. According to COR’s announcement, the containers may also be available to groups that hold events. For a neighbourhood association, the organiser of a cultural gathering or a group preparing a communal meal, this means the opportunity to discuss waste in advance as part of the event plan, rather than leaving the issue until the end of the evening.
Visitors will not have to remember new colours: the four familiar fractions are used — yellow, blue, brown and green. The practical difference is that during a large event, they should appear directly in the celebration area. COR stresses that when separation is easier, more people will be able to do it without unnecessary searching.
This is the programme’s quiet, almost imperceptible side. It does not propose changing the festivities themselves and does not require any special ritual from people. According to Cabanes, it is about small actions with noticeable results; this wording appears in COR’s announcement.
For residents of Valencia and neighbouring municipalities, this is a useful reminder of the difference between a celebration and its consequences. Music, food and glass bottles appear in the same square at the same time, but they do not have to go into the same waste stream. If containers are in the right place from the outset, sorting ceases to be a separate environmental campaign and becomes part of the ordinary structure of a celebration.
