A total of 15 boats will clean the waters of the Western Costa del Sol this summer.

The Western Costa del Sol will once again have a specific coastal water cleaning service this summer to remove floating and semi-submerged waste during the months of highest tourist pressure. The operation will consist of 15 vessels and will operate in June, July, and August in eight municipalities of the Malaga coast. The Association of Municipalities of the Western Costa del Sol has presented the service for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, with an estimated budget of close to 1.4 million euros. The contract is being tendered for the first time for two complete campaigns, a formula with which the supra-municipal entity seeks to provide more stability to the planning of the device, as explained by the vice president of the Association of Municipalities, José Antonio Mena. The service will start each year on June 1 and end on August 31. The vessels will work seven days a week: from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday to Friday and from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The operation will cover the waters of Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Marbella, Estepona, Casares, and Manilva, a coastal strip that concentrates high tourist and residential activity during the peak season. The cost of the service will be borne 40% by the benefiting municipalities, while the rest will be covered by the Association. According to the entity, the increase in fuel costs, maintenance, and CPI will not be passed on to the municipalities. The device will consist of four coastal vessels and eleven beach vessels. Their main function will be to remove floating or semi-submerged solids, in addition to acting in the presence of hydrocarbons, fats, foams, or other contaminating residues. The coastal vessels will be able to operate up to six nautical miles offshore. They are equipped to collect solid and liquid waste, with a minimum capacity of 5 cubic meters for solids and another 5 cubic meters for liquids, in addition to automatic suction systems and water oxygenation. On the other hand, the beach boats will work from the shore up to half a nautical mile. Their work will be especially important in swimming areas, coves, and points of difficult access, where manual collection from land is more complicated. In addition to waste removal, the vessels will perform tasks of observation and analysis of the waters, with special attention to points near underwater outfalls. The Western Association plans to use this data to adjust control strategies and improve the response to possible environmental incidents. The service also includes the installation of three MARPOL type containers of 7 cubic meters in fishing ports, as a preventive measure to avoid spills into the sea. The last campaign saw a slight decrease in the volume of waste removed. In 2025, 113.13 cubic meters were collected on the western coast, compared to 118.22 cubic meters in 2024. The reduction was 4.3%, equivalent to 5.09 cubic meters less. The most notable data occurred in plastics, traditionally the waste with the greatest presence in these operations. According to the Association, the amount of plastics collected decreased from 100.99 cubic meters in 2024 to 81.62 cubic meters in 2025. The cleaning of coastal waters has become a regular service during the high season on the Western Costa del Sol. Its goal is to reduce the presence of waste in the sea, improve swimming conditions, and minimize the environmental impact in one of the coastal areas with the highest tourist activity in Andalusia. The Association argues that the device contributes to protecting marine biodiversity and maintaining the quality of the beaches. However, waste reduction also depends on prevention at the source and public cooperation, especially during the months of highest influx.