Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Selective waste collection in Sant Andreu de Palomar rose from 37% to 65% in the first week of door-to-door waste collections in the neighbourhood. The percentage makes Sant Andreu de Palomar the Barcelona neighbourhood which recycles the most in the city.

The door-to-door service has just been introduced, reaching 5,475 homes in the first stage of its rollout. After the second stage, which begins on 18 October, the service should reach nearly 28,000 local people, providing collections for over 11,000 households and a thousand shops and businesses.

Actively listening to local people

During the first days and weeks of the implementation of the new door-to-door service, particular attention will be given to input from local people, Any major change means taking on board their demands, their feedback and their suggestions with the goal of improving the service and adapting it to the needs of the local area.

During the information stage before the service was introduced, local people provided different input via the monitoring commission set up with local residents’ associations and various organisations. There were also meetings with community representatives at the information points provided.

Services for the elderly and people with reduced mobility

In response to some of this input, complementary services were created for households where elderly people or those with reduced mobility live, through a specific support service. People who need this can fill in a form at the information points and the collection services will then take down their waste for them on the corresponding day.

Between February and April there were 555 meetings with the heads of owner/tenant communities, with 931 shops and businesses also contacted. These meetings helped towards consensus on some aspects of the service, according to the needs of each block of flats and each business.

In May it was time to supply local people with packs of materials for the service, hold meeting with the different communities and get two information points up and running, the Door-to-Door Office, located at the Fabra i Coats site, and an information point in Plaça de les Palmeres. Besides these two face-to-face points, a phone service and an email address were offered to resolve doubts and for people to give their input. All these services are still operating during the current stage.

Other changes

Some other adjustments have been introduced to the service since it began, in response to situations which arise:

• A team of information staff were on hand outside nursery schools in the first week, offering additional information on sanitary waste items such as nappies.
• Recycling containers for glass were repositioned in the area to optimise the collection of this material, which will continue with the current containers.
• The mobile unit for the collection of sanitary materials was backed up with a team of information staff, to be able to respond to doubts and queries from users.
• Information staff were available in areas with tanks for organic waste, to explain how the automatic opening keyring works.
• The service was adapted for shops and businesses after the first few days following demands for more collection days.
• Shop bins have been changed to match waste collection needs.

Adaptable waste collection model

The door-to-door waste collection system is currently being applied in over 200 municipalities in Catalonia and is widely agreed on as a way to improved selective waste rates. As a flexible model, the system can take into account people’s varying situations and adapt to specific local needs.