THE STORY OF ARGENTONA CASE STUDY #2 The town of Argentona, northeast from , introduced door-to-door collection in 2004, managing to more than double its recycling rates and becoming a pioneering reference in .

Case study 1 CHANGING WASTE COLLECTION

By giving the contract for collection ration. In 2001-2002, with increasing “Our motivation to services to a local social enterprise, rates of waste generation, those mu- improve the system the municipality also boosted local nicipalities that were sending waste was environmental employment and raised the environ- to the incinerator realised they had but also social, as we mental awareness of the community, a choice to make: Either they would believed that is was showing once more that zero waste have to expand the incinerator, or very important for is not only about waste, but about they could develop a system that people to be aware our relationship with our surround- would increase recycling rates and and engage on is- ings and the empowerment of com- make incineration redundant. Fortu- sues around waste” munities. nately, the mayors chose the latter - Joan Pujol (at the and committed to improve the sep- time Town Council Without the tradition of recycling arate collection of waste. Technical Expert on boasted by many Western European Waste) nations, this area of 18,000 inhabi- Argentona, being one of the closest tants has leapfrogged the recycling towns to the incinerator, was espe- rates of many better-established cially sensible to the waste issue, programmes around Europe, reach- and began a ground-breaking initia- ing 76.17% separate collection of tive to look into alternatives. At the municipal solid waste (MSW) and time, three small-sized towns in Cat- aiming to reach 82% in the next 5 alonia had already started a door-to- years. door collection system, Tiana, Tona and Riudecanyes. Drawing from the Up until 2004, Argentona had fol- experiences of these pioneering lowed the most common waste col- towns, the Argentona Town Council lection system in , consisting of was convinced that door-to- door the separate collection of four waste collection was the way forward. streams – glass, paper, lightweight packaging such as plastics and As the waste collection contract with cans/tins, and residual, in separate FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y containers placed on streets. Organ- Contratas) was coming to an end in ic waste would not be collected sep- 2004, the Town Council, which was arately, usually resulting in signifi- controlled by a non-partisan group »» Population: 12,000 cant contamination in the recyclable of locals, devoted time to discuss »» Recycling rate 2012: 68,5 % and residual waste streams. Follow- the door-to-door proposal with the »» The door-to-door collection system is imple- ing this system, recycling rates were Town Environmental Council, which mented in the old town, which is home to around stable below 20% and most of the included the town’s environmental 8,500 residents, with the rest of the population waste generated was taken to the civil society and other engaged in- living in houses in the outskirts incinerator in Mataró, located 5km dividuals. Together, they decided to away. take the opportunity to replace the street container collection system The opportunity to move away from with a separate doorstep collection this system came after the inciner- system. ator in Mataró showed signs of satu-

Case study 2 STEP BY STEP: ORGANIC & RESIDUAL WASTE FIRST

Before kicking-off with the new sys- went a long way to reducing impu- “at the beginning tem, the inhabitants of Argentona rities in other waste streams and it wasn’t easy, a were informed about the upcoming made it possible in 2006 for sepa- minority of people changes with an awareness-raising rate collection rates to peak at 80% refused to change campaign. In the first phase, a small in the Argentona areas with doorstep their habits... brown bin was distributed to every- collection, which in turn raised the ...the Town Hall de- one to separate food waste at home, overall Argentona rates up to 50% cided to stay strong... and step-by- step the system start- of separate collection. At the same ... a few weeks ed functioning. Businesses were time, the quality of the organic ma- later the system charged for their food container, terial achieved records of only 2% was already running according to the size of the organic contamination in 2009! Later on, the smoothly without waste bin they required. Residual recycling rates continued to increase complaints” waste –what is not recyclable – was until they peaked again in 2012 at also collected door to door whereas 68,5%. other waste streams continued to be collected in containers. Incentives were also provided for residents to begin composting at Joan Pujol remembers that, “at the home, and in 2007 the municipality beginning it wasn’t easy, a minority provided families with 113 compost- of people refused to change their ing bins for gardens (most of them habits and even protested against as a donation) and 15 wormery bins the doorstep collection. Fortunately (at the cost of citizens), along with the Town Hall decided to stay strong, training on composting techniques. to focus on making the first phase of The initiative was much-welcomed implementation a success and let it by their neighbours, with many of calm down. And indeed, a few weeks them converting into passionate later the system was already run- composters. ning smoothly without complaints”. In the second phase, Argentona rolled out collection of paper and IMMEDIATE INCREASE packaging waste at the doorstep, OF RECYCLING RATES which took place in 2008. Glass collection remained through ‘bottle The positive results were felt from banks’ dotted around the municipal- the beginning, and progressively, the ity. As a result the rates of separate percentage of separate collection collection continued to climb. increased by 10% each year. This

Separate collection rates

Case study 3 BOOSTING THE LOCAL ECONOMY

GREEN LOCAL JOBS! WHAT IS COLLECTED Sr. Josep Salvador WHEN? Bosch became a pas- Another co-benefit of the door-to- sionate composter door collection system was the boost Waste fractions are collected door- after he participated in local employment, which tripled to-door every day of the week, in composting train- the number of jobs and improved according to the different waste ing and received a social inclusion. The municipality streams, by rear-loading trucks. compost bin. Now he awarded the collection contract to Residents put out their waste at a uses all his kitchen a local social enterprise called Arca specific time – between 8 and 9pm, and garden waste , specialising in employing with collection starting at 10pm. to make compost workers at risk of social exclusion. and feeds it back Arca Maresme committed to employ Collection is organised as follows: into the soil in his at least 30% of its staff from difficult thrice weekly collection of organic allotment. “This has to employ locals. waste (food scraps and small gar- been such a positive den wastes – grass cuttings, leaves), experience. It’s a bit Before switching to door-to-door twice a week for lightweight packag- of work indeed, but collection, the waste collection com- ing such as plastics and cans/ tins, it’s more important pany (FCC - Fomento de Construc- once a week for each paper and re- to close the loop ciones y Contratas) employed three sidual waste and a daily collection with nature and stop people to carry out collection. Given service for used, disposable nappies using chemical fer- the increased resources required for (a separate container on the collec- tilizers, which I don’t collecting 7 days a week over longer tion truck is used for this). The spe- need anymore. This shifts, that number increased to 11. cific collection for nappies is intend- is definitely the way Arca Maresme currently employs all ed to keep a user-friendly scheme forward.” of them. This is one of the main les- that meets the needs of families us- sons to learn from implementation ing nappies/diapers, while enabling of collection at the doorstep: apart a very low collection frequency for from boosting recycling rates, the the rest of the residual waste. In this largest share of collection costs are way, the system manages to cut col- shifted from costs related to equip- lection costs, and drives most of the ment, technologies and disposal, to recyclables and compostable waste creating new jobs, which ultimately towards the appropriate containers. feeds back into the local economy.

Case study 4 “ARGENTONA INTRODUCES PAY-AS-YOU-THROW SYSTEM IN 2009”

All of the collected recyclables are residual waste in special, taxed bags. Waste fractions are taken directly to the various local After the latest reform, the cost of collected door-to- processing plants, while the residual waste management is now covered door every day of the fraction is taken to a sorting hub in through a combination of a fixed rate week, according to nearby Mataró, where neighbouring tax, which is intended to cover the the different waste municipalities also bring their resid- partial fixed costs of the system, and streams. ual waste to go through a Mechani- a variable fee charged in proportion cal- Biological Treatment (MBT). This to the waste disposed of. process pools further some of the unsorted recyclables within the re- REDUCING WASTE & sidual waste, including organic ma- SAVING COSTS terial, and incinerates the rest. “This is indeed not ideal”, recognizes Joan Since 2003, this system has effec- Pujol, from the Argentona Council tively reduced residual waste by “but we are sending less and less more than 50% and packaging waste waste to incineration as our residu- by 21%, although some of this can al fraction is continually minimized. be attributed to waste leakage into Fortunately we don’t have to provide neighbouring municipalities with no the plant with any specific amount”. PAYT charges, according to Argento- na municipality sources. THE REVOLUTION OF PAYING ACCORDING TO The scheme is currently still largely WASTE GENERATION self-funded, as the increased profits generated from the sale of recycla- After the implementation of separate bles to Ecoembes and Ecovidrio (in- waste collection at the doorstep, it termediary companies in charge of was important to introduce an incen- collecting plastic, paper/carton and tive to keep improving the recycling glass packaging) processing plants rates and reduce waste generation. have offset the increased operat- In 2009, it was time to implement a ing costs of door-to-door collection. “Pay as you throw” (PAYT) system, Also, Argentona recovers part of the which would reward or penalise landfill and incineration tax collect- households economically according ed by the Catalan government from to how much waste they would pro- every municipality, in compensation duce. for sending less waste to disposal. In conclusion, the numbers work: the Up until then, Argentona had had system has proven to be even more a municipality-wide fixed charge, economically viable than the con- which was levied on all residents. tainer-based collection system, sav- When the PAYT system was intro- ing the municipality €35,000 a year. duced in 2009, residents were re- quired to dispose of packaging and

Case study 5 LATEST REFORMS IN THE SYSTEM

In 2011, the Town Hall introduced WHAT HAPPENS WITH some flexibility into the PAYT scheme OTHER TYPES OF to combine a fixed and a variable WASTE? cost. The variable part of the fee is determined now by the number of Argentona has also improved in how people in each household and the it deals with other types of waste, amount of waste generated. such as bulky items, toxic waste or those particularly difficult to recycle, Also, in 2013 the Town Hall aban- such as individual coffee capsules. doned the use statutory yellow bags For the bulky items, these are trans- for packaging waste, with the aim of ported to the town’s tip (Deixalleria), reducing the leakage of waste into which had to be doubled in size in neighbouring towns, the so-called 2008 as a result of the awareness ‘waste tourism’. Since then, resi- campaign that promoted its use dents can instead use any bag they amongst the people of Argento- want, of any type and size. na. Residents can bring there their bulky items, as well as toxic waste, This simple change has had signifi- dry garden waste (pruned branches cant consequences. On the plus side, etc) and vegetable and mineral oils. there has been an increase of col- Around 80% of waste received by lected separate waste, which shows the Deixalleria is recycled. Textiles that less of it is going to other towns, are collected by a network of social according to the Council. However, enterprises in the region called Roba this change is no incentive to reduce Amiga, through collection bins posi- packaging waste in the first place, tioned in public places. Good quality and it is more difficult to monitor the textiles are sold in Roba Amiga sec- amounts of waste generated and the ond hand shops, or shipped to de- contamination in the waste stream, veloping countries. If they cannot be since the thickness of some plastic reused they are recycled as cleaning bags can hide improper separation. rags or fibres for industry. Moreover, commercial spaces can > Residual waste generation pp/year now camouflage their packaging waste as household waste and avoid paying their fair share.

Case study 6 DISPOSAL

For the moment, what is not recycled dox which does not favour waste re- n the meantime the network of Cata- or composted is sent for disposal to duction and separate collection. The lan Zero Waste municipalities contin- the nearby incinerator in Mataró, but progressive increase in the inciner- ues to grow strong, comprising more the plan, like in any other town com- ation tax in Catalonia should fix this than 55 municipalities, all public uni- mitted to zero waste, is to eventually problem over time, creating a higher versities in Catalonia, 30 companies discontinue this. gate fee for incineration of waste as and more than forty organisations to make this option the least desir- and platforms that are committed to Given the success of separate waste able possible, in compliance with the working cooperatively in a common collection in the area and the reduc- Waste Hierarchy. space to develop strategies for Zero tion of waste production due to the Waste. economic crisis, the incinerator is FUTURE CHALLENGES, now facing a situation of overcapac- FUTURE TARGETS ity, which it compensates for by col- lecting and burning waste from the Argentona has paved the way for neighbouring towns. Indeed, a major other Catalan municipalities to walk problem in the region is the price the talk of Zero Waste. Over the last competition between recycling and years, more and more municipalities disposal. have been adopting the door-to-door collection system and other preven- Currently, the costs of disposal do tion policies that have proven to be not reflect the priorities established so successful in Argentona. by the Waste Hierarchy, and a com- bination of bad infrastructure plan- Following the model, municipalities ning, public funds and grants to dis- such as Celrà, Vilabreix or Olot have posal sites, and low disposal taxes recently more than doubled their re- (€7,40/t in this case, in comparison cycling rates in less than a year. For to a typical cost in Europe of around instance, Celrà increased recycling €100/t or more), means that com- rates from 21% in 2011 to 89% in posting is not yet cost-competitive 2013. with disposal options. This is a para-

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Sources Argentona City Council Estratègia Catalana de Residu Zero (Zero Waste Catalan Strategy) http://estrategiaresiduzero.cat Associació de Municipis Catalans per a la Recolida Porta a Porta http://portaaporta.cat/ca/index.php Case study 7 Zero Waste Europe was created to empower communities to rethink their relationship with the resources.

In a growing number of regions, local groups of individuals, businesses and city officials are taking significant steps towards eliminating waste in our society.

Case study by Aimee Van Vliet Visual design by Petra Jääskeläinen

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