Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The door-to-door system has doubled selective waste collection in the neighbourhood of Sant Andreu de Palomar, with levels rising from 37% to 76%, one of the highest rates in the ranking of metropolitan municipalities.

The door-to-door system improves waste management, favouring quality of life and freeing public space of containers. It also helps in the fight against the climate crisis, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and promotes the circular economy through the reuse of waste. The system also represents a significant economic saving. The citywide application of this model would lead to an estimated municipal saving of 30 million euros.

The leap from 37% to 76% in selective waste collection puts Sant Andreu de Palomar in fifteenth place in the ranking of Catalan municipalities with over 5,000 inhabitants, and one of the first in the metropolitan area.

Some 79% of local people in the area of Sant Andreu where the measure has been introduced are now participating in the new system, which has been adapted according to input from local people and organisations. Changes agreed with the monitoring commission include:

• Changes to the manoeuvring of vehicles and limits to compressing operations for waste outside the narrowest streets to cut noise.
• Review of accessibility for pedestrian routes.
• Boxes for nappies: to be introduced from September.​

What’s the chip for on the door-to-door bags?

The chip offers information to local people on their waste management: frequency of deposits and mistakes in the separation of waste. In the future it will also enable access to the tax discount system for waste collection, which benefits families who comply with waste separation.