IT'S official - people living on the Balearic Islands produce more waste over the course of a year than any other region of Spain.
In Sa Nostra banking foundation's report to be released next week on the Economic and Social Status of the Balearics in 2007, a research group headed by Antoni Riera confirm that each inhabitant of the Islands generates 730.1 kilos per year and suggests that these massive volumes are influenced by certain social conditions such as the demographic movement of immigrants to the region, tourist affluence - and as a consequence of the latter - the seasonal influx of temporary workers who support the tourist industry.
Riera claims that last year saw yet another rise in the accumulation of waste material in the Balearics, this time of 3.4 percent in excess of figures for the previous year when growth had been registered at 13.5 percent in comparison to 2006. Although the increase of rubbish volumes would appear to be slowing down, the report shows that accumulated growth from the beginning of this decade has reached 40.6 percent. It is also significant that whilst each citizen produced 600 grammes four decades ago, the average is now two kilos.