Waste collection: containers and cards

The first thing I have to say is that in no case am I going to question what other entities in Navarra do. Waste collection is adapted to each local reality, and that is why there are so many different systems. In each town or city it depends on the urban planning, the number of inhabitants, the type of waste, the treatment facilities, the technical and economic availability, etc. Even our Commonwealth of the Pamplona Region has different systems for urban and rural areas, where it is committed to domestic and community composting.

What is common is that the non-separation and collection of organic matter is the biggest environmental problem generated by urban waste, with a strong impact on Climate Change.

Why did we opt for card-closed containers? Because we saw that we were not advancing, that we were stagnant. Nine years ago, the Commonwealth of the Pamplona Region deployed the organic material container that collects more tons than anyone else in Navarra, but it is not enough. After the success of the initial launch, we verified that the amount collected did not grow and that, despite information and awareness campaigns, we did not manage to exceed 15% of organic matter collected, when (all of us) should have legally reached 50% in 2020.

That is why the Mancomunidad carried out a study at a national and international level that led to the development of the pilot test carried out in Azpilagaña and Nuevo Artika, which replicated almost to the millimeter what was seen in other advanced European cities. The leap has been enormous, tripling organic matter and halving what goes to landfill, also increasing the collection of paper and packaging. It is a good system (which will improve) and that is why it will be extended to the entire urban area of ​​the region. The first data from the Ensanche, Mendillorri and Sarriguren point in the same direction.

The usefulness of the data obtained (never personal) is unquestionable. Consider that this Mancomunidad manages the waste of nearly 400,000 people and therefore more budget, containers, trucks, personnel and tons of waste than the other fifteen Navarrese entities combined. We need data to modernize management and optimize schedules, collection routes, and location of containers. This is logical, does anyone think that the challenges and means that the Pamplona City Council has to face are the same as those of a small city council? Well, the same thing happens with associations.

The controversy associated with “privacy” is artificial. The Commonwealth is a Public Administration and does not sell or transfer data to anyone, it would be missing more. He has been reading the water meters of each home for decades without any problem.

We use the data to carry out personalized campaigns when we see that there are households that do not use the containers, in the same way that we contact households if we see that there is abnormal water consumption. And it works: sometimes they are new tenants or have lost their cards or don't know how recycling works here. We can also reward the home that does it well. Another utility: sometimes it happens that on the same route there are containers that are overflowing while others are half empty. This is expensive and inefficient. Now we will bring containers closer to real users. In short, it is progress and we are sure that, as in the case of organic containers, in a few years the system will spread throughout Navarra.

And we are not alone, the new state Waste Law, recently approved in Congress, says that the use of closed or intelligent containers should be prioritized, as they are more efficient.

We understand the inconvenience. There is a long journey from when we threw "the garbage bag" at the foot of a tree and now. It is something that at a particular level can bother, but it is necessary for the common good, for our planet. We have a very serious environmental problem that we can solve. We are on it.

David Campión Ventura President of the Commonwealth of the Region of Pamplona

How we got here: the Commonwealth prepared the implementation project. First, with a change in the regulatory Ordinance that would include the implementation and in turn regulate the separation at source; second, it was to see the need to acquire the containers and vehicles necessary to perform the service; third, include it in the budget and investment plan of the Commonwealth; and fourth, the implementation in the street and the communication plan and deployment of training and awareness among citizens. This implantation has been worked on and discussed in the different forums of the Commonwealth, an intense work of which we can now see the result.

When we considered the decision to implement the 5th container, one of the challenges was deciding whether to install a card or key system, or not! The decision was no! Right now, in our case, in the Mancomunidad de la Ribera, selective organic collection is being implemented from scratch, a challenge that as president I have had to address and the decision is not easy. After talking with colleagues from other commonwealths and seeing how the technology works, in my opinion it is an expensive technology, and due to the costs involved in purchase and annual maintenance it becomes more expensive.

We decided that this is not the time, we have to implant a new habit in the public, which is to have one more bag in each specific house for that container. Now we have to be facilitators for our neighbors, what we have to do is encourage citizens to help us with this new container. The chosen system is a more facilitative system, it gives a more comfortable opportunity to use. Let's be clear that people who are aware of the use of the fifth container are going to use it with a card and without a card. The challenge is to get as many residents as possible to use and recycle the organic matter that was previously deposited in a waste bin and now they have to separate it. We believe that it would be a double difficulty for residents to adapt to the new key system and at the same time to a new fraction that they have to recycle. We have been implanting it for two months and it is seen that the citizens know what the use of the brown container is. The organic matter collection forecasts in these months are those provided without a closure system. In the month of December, the amount of organic matter that was previously collected monthly doubled, reaching close to 60 tons, an amount that is expected to continue rising until reaching 200 tons per month by the end of the year.

Citizens have to help each other separate at source to be able to recycle better. Now, as a Commonwealth, we have to spread a clear message about its use and that it forms part of the dynamics of annual communication campaigns that we have been developing for the last two years. From the Mancomunidad de la Ribera we are going to carry out an accompaniment of organic matter for this fifth container while the implantation lasts in the Ribera and subsequent months. We are working on the search for financing to hire an environmental education technician, to carry out training actions in schools, institutes, neighboring communities and training citizens to better recycle at source. On the other hand, the Navarra Waste Plan 2017-2027 set as objectives a separation at source of organic matter of 50% in 2022 (with an additional limit of 20% of improper) and 70% in 2027 (with a limit additional 10% improper). We are convinced that with everyone's help we can reach the goal set in the waste plan and that the system of investing in training and dissemination will help us more than the card or key system.

Fernando Ferrer Molina. President of the Mancomunidad de la Ribera

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