Ferrovial Services awarded for its commitment to the environment

The Spanish Technical Association for Environmental and Waste Management, ATEGRUS, has presented Platinum Escoba (Brush) Awards to the Seville and Murcia local councils, Gold Brush Awards to the municipalities of Tomares, in Seville, and Salobreña, in Granada, and a Silver Brush Award to the town of Teguise, in Lanzarote, in recognition of their commitment to the environment. The cleaning and waste collection services in each of the recipient municipalities are handled by Ferrovial Services.  The Seville City Council, via its public municipal cleaning company, LIPASAM, received the award for the introduction of a new communications strategy for the implementation of awareness-raising actions relating to the environment in which new participation channels and dynamics were implemented in an effort to boost participant acquisition and loyalty.  In the case of the Murcia Town Council the award was conferred for the creation of the Municipal Graffiti Office, established with the aim of eradicating wilfully destructive graffiti that both damages and defaces public and private property. The centre focuses on cleaning, prevention, awareness-raising, the promotion of arts and the provision of pertinent assistance and counselling for the general public.  For its part, the Salobreña Town Council received the award for the introduction of quality indexes for cleaning and waste collection services, thereby necessitating a commitment to quality and citizen satisfaction on behalf of the service provider. Ferrovial Services has implemented an ongoing evaluation system for each of the services provided in an effort to detect any deviances from expected results and act accordingly.  In the same category, the municipality of Tomares received an award for the creation of a children’s painting competition designed to raise awareness regarding local cleaning services among the younger generations. The winning entries were screen-printed onto equipment used by the local cleaning service in an effort to help the younger generations understand the importance of keeping their municipality clean.  And finally, the Teguise Town Council received its award for an innovative selective collection service that focuses on organic waste from the hotel and restaurant sector and provides both quality organic material for the biodigesters in the local environment centre and tax incentives for participating restaurants and hotels.  These awards offer local councils and other public and private entities recognition for their efforts in favour of the environment and are presented every two years to institutions and organisations that distinguish themselves in terms of supporting, rewarding and disseminating good practises in waste management and urban cleaning and developing projects and technologies that allow for sustainable management of our environment. 

About the Escoba Awards

This competition has existed since 1987, when the first edition was announced by the European Union as part of European Year of the Environment and organised, in Spain, by ATEGRUS, a National Member of the International Solid Waste Association, ISWA. Subsequent editions of the competition have been held every two years.  The symbol used for the awards is the brush. Historically the first cleaning implement to be devised, it remains an indispensable element to this day despite the introduction of new technologies.  The competition is open to town and city councils, autonomous communities, associations of municipalities, service providers, engineering companies, environmental consultants, manufacturers of capital goods and urban cleaning and waste management facilities, universities that carry out relevant R+D+i activities and organisations that focus on environmental training and awareness campaigns.