The social entity was awarded the Environment Award from the Calvià Town Hall for its initiative to protect Posidonia and raising awareness amongst bathers.
The Creu Roja summer campaign for surveillance and education of bathers on the importance of preserving the natural environment in Portals Vells is now underway. The activities take place every Saturday in July and August, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Teams of four volunteers, divided into pairs, patrol the sea to detect illegal anchoring on Posidonia with kayaks and clean the coast while informing bathers about the impact of waste and current regulations. The waste collected is classified and inventoried in the Manorba app. This application, developed by the Cero Vertidos Association, is a digital field notebook that facilitates the collection and submission of data on marine litter, thus eliminating the use of paper.
Creu Roja will continue with surveillance and awareness raising activities every Saturday in July and August. On 13th, five volunteers from Creu Roja participated in the environmental awareness actions of Portals Vells. Using kayaks, they monitored the anchorages above the Posidonia meadows, a protected aquatic plant, and detected an infraction that was successfully corrected when the boat's skipper agreed to move the anchor. In addition, they toured the coast collecting 10 kg of waste. Likewise, they informed 11 people about the local flora and fauna and contacted the passengers of ten boats to alert them about the current regulations.
The Creu Roja volunteering initiative received a special mention of 2.000 € from the Calvià Town Hall's Environment Awards. This recognition highlights the importance of activities to control illegal anchoring on Posidonia and to promote separate waste collection. The jury that evaluated the project highlighted the planning and active participation of volunteers.
From 2016 to 2021, Creu Roja carried out the "Environmental Surveillance of the Coastline" project in Calvià, with the support of the Town Hall and other funders such as the Biodiversidad y Libera Foundation. The activities have included maritime and land surveillance in Portals Vells, and games and awareness-raising dynamics on various beaches in the municipality. In addition, they have carried out clean-ups in the Marina de Magaluf (wetlands) within the "Let's clean up Europe" programme, with the participation of up to 20 people for the separate collection of waste and weighing by Calvià 2000.
