Xesca Martí Llodrà: "Many clients already have second-hand products as their first option"

VillafrancaIn a convulsed global landscape, the feeling of global and also local fragility, Xesca Martí Llodrà(Vilafranca, 1969) opens a window to hope and optimism. She has worked at the Deixalles Foundation since 1997 and has been its director since 2010. A biologist by training, an environmentalist by conviction, and a tireless activist for the social and circular economy, the Vilafranca native leads a benchmark entity in socio-labor insertion and reuse in the Balearic Islands. At a time marked by the climate crisis, inequalities, and the throwaway culture, she advocates for collective work, social commitment, and the need to put people at the center, and no, it's not just a slogan, because she dedicates a large part of her time and efforts to this goal.

A question for anyone who doesn't know or doesn't know everything you do: what is Deixalles?

— Deixalles is a socio-labour insertion project for people at risk of exclusion, and we do this work of recovering people through the reuse and recycling of waste.

How long have you been working here?

— I joined many years ago, in 1997, and started as an environmental educator. It all began because at that time I was participating in the movement that arose when they started talking about the incinerator. There was the idea of bringing the ashes from the incinerator to El Pla, to Son Nuviet (Petra) and, faced with this threat, the Son Nuviet coordinator was formed, which was against bringing the incinerator ashes here to El Pla. I participated in the anti-incinerator movement which, in the end, was anti-landfill, because what we didn't want was for the landfill to be built here. At that time, I used to write articles about the environment in the town's magazine, and I always had the concern that protesting wasn't enough, I thought things had to be built. As a result of all this, I got to know Deixalles, where I took a course on European funds for technicians on concepts of recycling and selective collection, and the opportunity arose to participate in an environmental education campaign.

And you stayed there…

— Yes. I worked there as an educator and environmental technician for a couple of years, then I coordinated the project and around the year 2000 another opportunity arose. The whole issue of recycling was developed in Mallorca and the Balearic Islands. With this movement there was an alliance between Tirme and the Deixalles Foundation and that's when the light packaging selection plants and the recycling plants that selected the collected material began to be built.

What is Tirme's treatment plant, right?

— Yes. In fact, Tirme was constituted to build the incinerator. This was around 1994, and during this entire anti-incinerator movement process there were alliances, and Tirme and the Council proposed that part of the work for these recycling plans be carried out by insertion collectives.

Well, now the question is inevitable: can you ensure that waste is separated? As you may already know, many people are certain and say that "anyway, it all goes to the same place"…

— Yes, it is separated. I would tell people that, apart from the environmental improvement that separating it entails, we effectively have many people, around 60, 50% of whom have an insertion contract, working in the packaging plants sorting the types of plastic there are. They are people who come from social exclusion and are very good sorters. It is clear that there is a part that cannot be recovered because it is very dirty and is a mixture of materials, it is true that this goes to the incinerator, but many tons of what is sorted is good plastic that is sold in the Peninsula to be made into plastic again.

And you also have people working at Mac Insular…

— Yes, at the demolition and bulky waste sorting plant.

And at Mac Insular, does it also separate as it should?

— There, the unsuitable materials in the arriving debris are also separated: the wood is shredded and different materials are salvaged, and what cannot be salvaged, is not. But before putting it in a landfill, all that is not debris is removed from the debris, and this is a job that our workers do.

And what process makes a person at risk of exclusion a person in Deixalles?

— People undertake a process, an insertion contract itinerary that can last a maximum of three years. During this time they improve their personal and professional skills and then we help them to look for work because this way they have a second chance.

Your training is as a biologist and you also work in the third sector…

— It is like this, I am a biologist and when I joined Deixalles I did so because of this environmental concern, but the possibility of transforming much more has opened up for me, because combining the environment with the labor insertion of people who need it is, for me, an exciting and fascinating combination and, in fact, I no longer know if I would know how to work anywhere else.

Perhaps, people, in general, do not know you for this aspect of waste recycling, but for the textile and used furniture character.

— We have been doing the second-hand sales part since '86, that is to say, since we were born, as this year will be 40 years. The idea came about because during the boom of tourism, many materials were thrown away that were not being used. On the one hand, there were people in need and, on the other hand, hoteliers or people throwing away furniture that was still good. And what we do is collect furniture, objects, and books for free, and anything that can be reused. They go through different repair workshops and then we put them up for second-hand sale. This sale helps us to sustain social projects. Depending on the year, between 35 and 40% of our funding comes from our own funds from what we sell in our stores; the rest are subsidies from city councils or other administrations.

What future do you see for these shops? Has people's perception of second-hand changed? Do you think what you do is valued?

— Over the years it has changed a lot. We, as the years have passed, have had to professionalize ourselves a lot. Both in the social aspect and in waste. You have to comply with legalities and give guarantees. Perception has also changed. Before, coming to Deixalles was a bit frowned upon, it seemed that only those who had many needs and couldn't afford to buy something new came. For some time now, the people who come to look for items are very varied. In fact, nowadays there are many clients who think that the first option should be second-hand. This, of course, also has a danger, and that is that there are second-hand shops that pay for these items, we do not pay because we have this social sense and we continue to maintain ourselves. We make a lot of effort so that people give us things for free to keep the wheel turning.

Before, furniture and even some appliances were for life, what do you think about planned obsolescence and the low quality of products?

— It's a disaster. There are different aspects. On the one hand, there are things that have planned obsolescence, but also a social one. That is, we have entered a cycle where even if you have a good piece of furniture, sometimes there is this need to change things often even if they are fine.

And what can be done to change this dynamic?

— For example, we run campaigns in schools about consumption, to teach and show that the best waste is the one that is not generated. We emphasize that things can be reused and that you don't have to destroy them to make them again. The idea is that producers assume their responsibility and that by law there is a percentage of products that can be reused; that they are already designed so that they can be repaired and recycled, and that it is not all waste. In other words, we have a voluntariness of political incidence and of transforming society. We want people to be at the center of the economy, not just money.

How do you see management and consumption in Mallorca? Do values still hold in small towns like those in the Pla?

— In Pla there is still a certain essence that we should preserve, but Mallorca is already so hyperconnected that these values are being lost. In Pla, it is true that there are still smaller schools where you can work on certain values that perhaps in a center in Palma are more complicated.

And in a way it is all related to the social economy, education and sustainability values, as you say…

— I believe that social economy works a lot on the issue of values, which in today's society I think have been lost a lot. We need to do more training in social economy and for people to see that we have to do economy from the local area. It is clear that we must be able to live, but that the benefit must be for society and for the people. If you now go to study Economics, it seems that it is only to set up a company and I don't know if that is the only way out. I believe that perhaps we should set up cooperatives that have a more transformative and community power and help you to deal with values, given that what is yours is not just yours. This is the social and solidarity economy. There is still a long way to go, but in the towns of the Pla there are still those small collaborations of "I have tomatoes and you have oil"; this exchange does not generate economy, but it generates a network that goes beyond money.