Implementation of a model for the separate door-to-door collection of municipal waste

This collection strategy is based on a door-to-door system for the main municipal waste streams except glass, which is still collected in containers.

Each day of the week, households leave a different fraction of waste, duly separated, in front of their homes to be collected by the municipal services. Organic waste is collected three or four times a week, depending on the time of year; light packaging waste is collected twice a week; and paper and cardboard, as well as residual waste, is collected once a week. For household hygiene reasons, nappies, toilet paper, etc. are collected every day with the relevant waste for that day. Specific collection routes (also door-to-door) have also been established for the HORECA sector and for other establishments which are considered to be large producers of waste, with the times between collections for each type of waste tailored to the needs of the establishments.

The new model has two objectives. The first is to substantially increase the quantity and quality of the different kinds of waste collected separately, which is achieved mainly by doing away with anonymous waste disposal and by encouraging citizens to be the main drivers behind change. The second is to create new jobs in the form of operators needed for individual collection.