Palma town hall is studying a bylaw change that will address the problem of takeaway container litter. The environment councillor and president of the Emaya municipal services agency, Ramon Perpinyà, says that talks are currently being held with businesses and that one option is that fast-food restaurants use returnable containers. An amount would be charged to customers and repaid when the container is returned.
Ultimately, the aim is to eliminate the use of non-returnable containers and hopefully also eliminate the enormous amount of litter, which is especially evident in the old centre of the city and in Playa de Palma. Perpinyà recognises the difficulty businesses would have in changing their operations but he stresses the need to deal with the containers in order to guarantee "optimal cleanliness".
He argues that it is no longer a matter of the number of litter bins; it is one of civility. "We have to get fast-food establishment customers used to not leaving the remains everywhere." Restaurants, meanwhile, have to take responsibility, another option being that they clean up the immediate areas. "If they do not, they will have to accept a change to the packaging system."