Tuesday, June 1, 2021 – 18:09
‘Azure‘ is the name of the new technology that will be implemented in the Portoviejo river to reduce plastic pollution and generate productivity in rural communities. The initiative came from the British-Ecuadorian start-up Ichthion Limited, which is run by the Quito-based entrepreneur Inty Grønneberg . The professional was awarded the ‘Inventor of the Year in Latin America’ by the MIT Technology Review magazine in 2018.
The innovative technology was developed and tested in the United Kingdom, and after its good results, it will be implemented in Ecuador. The goal is to process up to 80 tons of waste per day, which is expected to generate marketable products that contribute to local communities.
The UK Ambassador, Chris Campbell, recently visited the community of El Milagro, in the Picoazá parish of the city of Portoviejo, Manabí, to supervise the preparations for the installation of ‘Azure’.
Since the beginning of phase one of this project, around 500,000 gr. of plastic waste – equivalent in weight to 55,000 single-use plastic bottles – which would have otherwise ended up contaminating the mangroves at the river mouth or affecting the Galapagos ecosystem due to ocean currents.
The Azure system is expected to arrive from the United Kingdom in June and to start its operation on the Portoviejo river by mid-July.
GREEN REACTIVATION
Ichthion and Fundación Circular, an Ecuadorian NGO chaired by Grønneberg, will also implement a program called ‘green reactivation’, in conjunction with the public and private sectors, civil society and academia.
The objective is to promote environmental protection projects from private companies through tax incentives applying proven models such as the Law of Tax Incentives in sport.
Grønneberg pointed out the need to join from different sectors and collaborate to carry out this type of action in favor of the country, considering that the general state budget allocates less than 0.33% of the general budget to environmental protection and care.
The project has the support of various personalities and activists interested in the green economy, such as the current Minister of Environment and Water, Gustavo Manrique , Bianca Dager, Manuela Picq, Tarsicio Granizo, among others.
In addition, the national selected soccer player Luis Fernando Saritama and the cyclist and Olympian Emilio Falla have highlighted the potential of this type of benefits of the law in the field of sport and highlighted the importance of applying it also in other spaces such as the environment.
With ‘Green reactivation’, “the additional 100% may be deducted for the calculation of the taxable income of the income tax, the sponsorship expenses made in favor of programs and projects of protection, conservation and environmental regeneration, previously qualified by the governing body competent in the matter. The regulation will establish the technical and formal parameters that must be met in order to access this additional deduction,” the organizations involved said in a statement.
Read the original coverage from Vistazo at https://www.vistazo.com/actualidad/nacional/dos-proyectos-para-llevar-a-ecuador-hacia-una-economia-ambientalmente-sostenible-AE341929
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