Recycling is a lot of work.
It gives gratifying work to the growing number of citizens aware of the separation of waste - the Spanish deposited 8.1% more containers in the blue and yellow containers in 2019 than the previous year, according to Ecoembes - and directly employs 10,143 employees of this sector.
The Trade Union Institute for Work, Environment and Health of Workers' Commissions (ISTAS-CCOO) has published a study this October in which it analyzes the quantity and quality of employment associated with the recycling of packaging and paper and cardboard.
The report concludes that direct employment between 2013 and 2017, the analysis period, increased by 18.8%.
The increase in total employed persons in this time interval in Spain was 9.8%, according to the Labor Force Survey (EPA).
“The objective was to know the behavior of the sector in the post-crisis stage.
Find out if it generated new jobs and if it did so more than the average for the economy, ”says Vicente López, managing director of Istas-CCOO.
Yes and yes.
The number of employed increases to 46,210 if indirect and induced employment is considered.
The first concept covers legal or consulting services, the company that makes garments for garbage dumps or machinery repair services.
Indirect employment is estimated at 18,012 jobs.
The second term, already in a more remote position in the recycling economy, refers to the employment that is generated from the consumption of workers in this sector.
The supermarket cashier or waiter serving a waste separation plant operator or garbage truck driver in his spare time.
Jobs derived from the consumption of recycling workers.
By specialty.
The selection of containers employs 3,724 people, the collection employs 2,685 and the transformation of the material, 1,047 people.
They are the three areas that generate the most work.
Where employment has grown the most is in transport operations to the recycler, 67% between 2013 and 2017. 31% in recycling and 25% in container collection.
The activity carried out by the paper and cardboard packaging and waste management system represents 6.5% of the gross added value and 16.9% of the employment generated in the green economy in Spain.
How is the quality measured
Directed by Istas-CCOO and Ecoembes, the study was carried out by the academic from the University of Malaga Antonio Clavero and the Par Tres Egabrense entity.
Another purpose was to measure the quality of employment through indicators such as working conditions and security in companies, collective bargaining, the insertion of women, the evolution of wages in the period analyzed, if the sector attracts young talent .
López reviews the conclusions: "No gender gap or job discrimination has been found, turnover is low, almost all employment is permanent, and workers have a positive perception of the place where they work."
Some supporting data: The average age of templates is between 15 and 20 years.
Temporary contracts represent 10% and is explained by the reinforcement in festive periods.
The partial contract is residual.
The presence of migrants is not significant except in Catalonia.
That employees enjoy vacations, that their companies provide them with the necessary material to preserve their health and safety and that they work an average of 39 hours, as the study observes, are conditions inherent to any job in 2020. "Waste collection has counted usually with a good union organization, which has paid off in terms of working conditions, ”says the unionist.
López points out the importance of European directives to strengthen employment growth.
“It is going to strengthen in quantitative and qualitative terms.
A modernization of the sector is perceived because it is employment for the future ”.
More present than future is the problem of the regions that lose population every year.
López responds: “The recycling sector helps to establish employment in emptied Spain.
The Sustainable Development Goals, which advocate that waste becomes productive resources, guarantee long-term stability ”.
Directive 2018/852 issued two years ago by the European Parliament establishes that no later than December 31, 2025, a minimum of 65% by weight of all packaging waste will be recycled and 70% by 2030.
