In recent months our colleagues at Ruta 27, an asset that we manage in Costa Rica,  have been very busy participating in several events and webinars, where they were able to inform about and showcase the many sustainability initiatives and projects that the Concession has launched.

In April, Montserrat Courraou, Head of Communication and CSR, and Jonathan Rojas, Ruta 27’s Quality Director, took part in the webinar “Ruta 27, Costa Rica’s Green Route”, organized by the Social Responsibility Consultancy Council of Costa Rica, and afterwards in the Code R Program, which through dissemination on social media informs about the initiatives that companies and organizations launch in the country.

Our colleagues Montserrat and Jonathan during their participation in the R Code program.

During both sessions, our colleagues showcased the efforts being made at the concession to operate the highway in a sustainable manner, explaining about the different sustainability projects they have implemented, such as our projects to use sunlight and rainwater, recycling, waste transformation and management, animal rescue and different volunteer projects to recover natural areas, among others.

In addition to this, within the framework of World Recycling Day, on 17th May our colleagues Kenneth Quesada, Technical Office Engineer and Antonio Acuña, Head of Planning and Contracts at Ruta 27, attended the second annual Code R meeting to talk about our sustainable practices in tarmac. During the event our colleagues explained about the joint project by Ruta 27 and the company Pedregal to transform waste plastic in a raw material for our highways, and also reusing old tarmac. This process consists of reusing the asphalt mix removed from highways as a raw material to resurface the hard shoulders on the highway. With this technique, we reduce the amount of gravel that is extracted from rivers and the binding process for levelling requires lower production temperatures, thus leading to a lower environmental impact.

Our colleagues Kenneth and Antonio during their joint presentation at the annual Code R meeting

To quote our colleague Antonio Acuña, who devised this project: “it is a new technique that has shown good results, with the end product being a thicker surface structure with better performance, a longer useful life, and basically, if before we had to carry out maintenance work every year, these intervals are now every two years through implementation of this technique, thus reducing maintenance costs”.

In addition to presenting these events on sustainability, on 27th May, Ruta 27 and Grupo ACOS, supported by the Township of Garabito and the Sports and Leisure Committee, organized a Green Fair at Roca Loca de Jacó, to support local entrepreneurs and help reactivate the economy in the community.  During the fair, which spanned three days, a group of 20 local entrepreneurs promoted their sustainable products, including clothing made from recycled cloth, organic products and craftwork.

Local entrepreneurs exhibit their products during the celebration of the Green Fair

This Green Fair kicked off with a day cleaning up the beach with participation by our colleagues at Ruta 27. This was encompassed within the activities of the famous Roca Loca Pro surfing event, during which over 200 kilos of waste were cleared away. This volunteer day, which our colleagues at Ruta 27 have been holding for over eight years now, aims to clean up the Roca Loca de Jacó beach and mirador from the pollution that is washed up from the sea and the rubbish that visitors leave behind.

Colleagues of Ruta 27 during the beach cleaning day

To quote Montserrat Courrau, Head of Communication and CSR at Ruta 27: “Along with ACOS we held this activity whilst bearing in mind the sports people who come to surf here, which is why we hold the Ola Grande tournament, and also in benefit of the environment. After the pandemic, we looked for a way to go beyond supporting the Garabito community in general, which is why we wanted to create a space for the entrepreneurs in the area, so that they could display and sell their products”.

The implementation of actions such as these, encompassed within the global sustainability strategy of the entire Globalvia Group, – SustaiMobility 2024– are just a few examples that reflect how we work to create together, day by day, transport infrastructures that become increasingly respectful of the environment, minimizing the impact generated and promoting the development and well-being of the communities in which we are present.