The Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility, Janet Sanz, has set the aim of increasing the current figure of 36% for separate waste disposal to 70%.

Sanz, accompanied by the Commissioner for Ecology, Eva Herrero, took part in the opening of the IV Fòrum Estratègia Catalana Residu Zero (ECRZ), a meeting on municipal environment policy to work towards zero waste levels.

The meeting is a chance for over 60 municipalities belonging to the ECRZ initiative and some county councils to debate waste management and proposals for changing the current situation. Ten cases of municipal success cases on zero waste are being outlined and debate focuses on how to handle this strategic change, both in terms of the responsibility of producers and the change in regulations to tackle the challenges which affect municipalities in particular.

The Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility, Janet Sanz, noted: “We’re preparing a collective work strategy to develop an economy which closes the cycles of everything we produce and means generating no waste, and to do so, industrial and environmental policy must move together”. Similarly, Sanz pointed out: “In Barcelona we have a plan for waste prevention which is a starting point and has a long way to go, with both political and industrial commitment needed”.

The Deputy Mayor also pointed out: “Barcelona has a separate waste collection figure of 36%, which is insufficient, and we’re planning action to turn the situation around and reach 70%. We also have an opportunity with the new cleaning and waste disposal contract and work needs to be done to incorporate strategy and action in this sense”.

Strategies to prevent waste

The Estratègia Catalana cap al Residu Zero is a citizens’ initiative which promotes a change of model for production and consumption systems in our country with the aim of closing energy cycles. The initiative is a mechanism for driving strategies preventing waste and moving away from final treatment methods such as landfill and incineration as alternatives for dealing with non-recyclable waste. The initiative is currently made up of over 60 municipal councils, all public universities, over 30 companies and some 40 entities and organisations, all committed to working together in this area.