How can we create a real change in our county? This is the very question and the reason to be for the public institutions. In this case the question posed is: what can we do to improve our environmental policies and create a real change?
The solution to this question was and is a new model of waste collection, door-to-door and via closed areas. In simple words, the idea of the project is about changing the idea of recycling by making the selective waste collection process start in people’s houses, optimising the process and reducing the waste produced. This project was not simple as changing the collection schedule or installing new places to throw the waste away. This was about modifying the established pattern of recycling and restructuring it to a new one. It may be an experiment that leads to social and environmental change.
Door-to-door waste collection is the result of many months of work, collaborating with all the stakeholders in the county; the citizenship, and public and private sectors. Also, it is clear example of how a public initiative can become a positive change in the day-to-day life of any citizen, whether they live in the county or not. It is true that the idea came from the public institutions, but the real work needed to ‘start the engine’ had to be done by the citizenship.
The residents were and still are playing a key role in ensuring the new system works, because they are the ones who have to separate the different kinds of waste in their houses. Another relevant stakeholder in the project is the companies working in waste collection representing the private sector. They have to collect all the urban waste produced by the citizens and follow strict rules about how to deal with it properly, trying to optimise the resources, to adapt the needs to each municipality. Finally, the public sector has the job of controlling the functioning, plus innovation, analysing how it has been implemented, what is really happening and overall, what the future will be.
In this case, the future points to keep doing the job, while searching for new goals, technology and ways of improving waste management in the region. Reducing the waste tax to people who generate less and separate waste a better way seems to be coming in the near future. It is very important not to understand this project as a solo initiative; this project is, and must be, a starting point to keep implementing environmental policies in the county. This should accomplish the Catalan, Spanish and European environmental objectives and provide other regions or countries with a tested experience, which can be implemented or adapted to other regions.