The education office of the Formentera Council announces the start of a new academic term from September 15 at the island's two early-learning centres. One hundred twenty-two children aged zero to three will begin classes tomorrow at Formentera's two escoletes, Sa Miranda and Camí Vell, in nine groups overseen by 17 instructors and an aide.

Education secretary Susana Labrador said the schools had kept their doors closed for the first two weeks in September while teaching staff, service workers, Council employees and outside contractors worked to get things up and running ahead of another year. Labrador put the total cost of the undertaking at €8,475.

Both schools got a fresh coat of paint, something Labrador said only cost the administration €400 since in-house staff could be brought in for the work. Carpenters were called in to change and varnish wood floors at Sa Miranda. Light work was performed on the doors at the two schools, and both centres received needed new shelving. The price tag for the diverse upgrades was roughly €5,200. A storage unit for educational material was mounted at Cami Vell for €875, and a gas tank for Sa Miranda's on-site heating system cost €2,000.

The Formentera Council's environmental arm has announced it will award a 35,492.93-euro contract to the firm Técnicas de Control Prevención y Gestión Ambiental Ltd for the drafting of a local sector-specific plan on solid- and urban-waste management. It will be the first time such a directive is devised uniquely for Formentera, and, according to CiF environment councillor Daisee Aguilera, will contain “criteria which turn on social and economic factors as well as environmental sustainability” in addition to “a clear emphasis on the distinct variables that come into play on each of the Balearic Islands”.

Highlighting the plan as a breakthrough, Aguilera pointed out that all the preceding directives had been for Eivissa and Formentera both and “failed to take into account factors specific to Formentera”. Indeed, one particular hurdle which haunts waste management on Formentera is the question of transport to Eivissa. To that effect, the councillor highlighted yearly waste-transfer costs of one million euros and invoked recycling which is, for its part, cost-free. Recycled materials, emphasised Aguilera, generate money that offsets the cost of transport. The councillor underscored the administration's efforts to raise awareness among private citizens and big waste generators about separating trash and recyclable materials and promised, “this is an effort that will reap both environmental and economic payoffs.”

In the councillor's words, “the directive will lay out the most appropriate model for managing waste on our island” while “seeking alignment with European, state and regional laws”. Aguilera homed in an additional aim the new directive will strive for: zero-waste production on the island. “This plan will help lay the foundation for new tender of the municipal waste collection contract”, she added. An initial deadline for the first draft of the document has been set at 21 months from today's date, though that could be trimmed down to nine weeks.