Àrea metropolitana de Barcelona

In the sphere of waste, the period 2016-2019 signalled a significant change in the AMB's management strategy, as it went from being the conveyor belt among the different waste management cycles to moving towards achieving the European objectives on this matter in conjunction with the town halls.

• PREMET25
  PREMET25 is the framework document which outlines the strategic avenues related to waste prevention and management in the metropolitan area until 2025. Its objective is to define an action strategy based on a new form of governance which focuses on lowering municipal waste, reaching 55 % recycling by 2025 and achieving carbon neutrality in the metropolitan waste treatment system.
  
  The PREMET25 initiative is a major qualitative leap and a shift in approach compared to previous metropolitan programmes (PMGRM 1997-2006 and PMGRM 2009-2016). The programme works on the basic operating causes behind why the European objectives on waste sorting have not been attained until now.
  
  This document is the outcome of participative work organised into seven sessions held over the course of twelve months in which representatives of civil society, experts and the metropolitan municipalities participated.
  
  In order to achieve the objectives proposed on preventing, sorting and recovering waste, the PREMET25 will be implemented under the umbrella of what is called the Metropolitan Agreement toward Zero Waste, which defines the core actions of the programme, with the formal commitment of the municipalities and the AMB, as well as the resources needed to make this possible.
  
  It is also a programme that aims to keep moving away from an economy with a linear conception (where raw materials are used to make products that become waste once their lifespan or their technological value is over) towards a more circular economy, where the lives of these materials, products and components are extended or a new use is found for them.
  
  In terms of infrastructures, the programme sets the objectives of lowering the dependence on end-of-life treatment installations – controlled landfill and energy use – and the impacts associated with their use. To carry this out, it forecasts different scenarios according to which the current waste treatment capacity must be reconverted to the treatment of sorted waste, especially organic waste and plastic/metal containers, or new plants must be built following criteria of versatility and optimisation in a transitional context.
  
  PREMET25
  Metropolitan Agreement toward Zero Waste: The new paradigm of municipal waste management in the metropolitan area of Barcelona
• Prevention
  Prevention is at the top of the hierarchy of waste management. Even though fulfilling the waste prevention objectives established by the Waste Agency is the responsibility of the town halls, during this mandate the AMB has kept focusing on prevention as a strategic avenue.
  
  In consequence, during this mandate, the AMB has invested efforts and resources in different projects and studies, such as the diagnosis of the metropolitan waste collection sites in 2017 and the Local Waste Prevention Plan of Esplugues de Llobregat and Montgat, among others. What stands out is the expansion of the range of advice and courses available throughout the entire metropolitan region, especially in the municipalities of Castellbisbal, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Cugat del Vallès and Viladecans, where there is a regular weekly or monthly programme. The social economy company Solidança has worked closely with the AMB and the municipalities to bring this to fruition.
  
  In terms of composters, almost 5,000 households are equipped with this independent, decentralised treatment system to sort organic household waste.
  
  In order to continue improving consumption habits and avoiding food waste, cooking classes with leftovers have continued to be taught at the Reparat Millor que Nou (Repaired Better than New) venue, along with participation in a variety of events organised by the Plataforma d'Aprofitament dels Aliments and Espigoladors (food recovery organisations), and the cooperation of the Waste Agency to establish a joint action plan for 2019 and 2020 within the Ecowaste4food project.
  
  Millor que nou (web)
  Ecowaste4food
• Waste collection
  The current mandate has managed to consolidate the trend of increased waste production detected since 2013 – in both absolute and per capita figures. This increase is believed to be associated with the upturn in the economy, which has led to an increase in consumption, in that it mainly includes kinds of waste that are highly sensitive to the economic situation, such as bulky waste and containers. It is worth noting that this increase has also been affected by a reduction in theft of cardboard.
  
  In terms of waste sorting, after years of stagnation, an increase was detected in 2018, primarily driven by the increase in the amount of organic and paper and cardboard waste sorted. It is believed that the municipalities' different focus on sorting waste and improving commercial collection has played a key role in this upturn in collection.
  
  

  Gràfic % Recollida selectiva

  
  In terms of paper and cardboard collection from municipal waste, a new agreement for 2018-2021was reached with the goal of promoting cooperation among the public administrations and paper-manufacturing companies. It also establishes a regulatory framework and an economic compensation criterion in order to provide Catalan municipalities in general and metropolitan municipalities in particular with points where paper and cardboard from municipal waste sorting can be left. The agreement's main new development is that payments for material are calculated according to their quality, while maintaining a minimum guaranteed price for municipalities, as in previous agreements.
  
  

  Gràfic Evolució de la recollida selectiva de les fraccions bàsiques (tones)

  
  During this period, the information provided to the metropolitan municipalities on waste sorting has been improved. The Oracle application automatically provides monthly data on the collection of all kinds of sorted waste to all the metropolitan municipalities, with information on the plants to which it was sent.
  
  The cooperation between the AMB and the town halls to locally and logistically manage the metropolitan waste collection sites helped improve the management of these facilities while also enabling the public prices proposed by the AMB to be updated every year based on the real costs of each kind of waste. Unfortunately, international market prices fluctuate, and therefore the economic results of the different kinds of waste do, too. The waste included in the comprehensive management systems (electrical and electronic devices, spare tyres or batteries and other materials) can be treated without overloads, whereas the expense of special waste or waste without market value must be borne.
  
  Waste collection sites or green points are facilities which collect waste that is not specific to the dumpsters placed on the streets. While preparing the future PREMET25, an exhaustive analysis was conducted of the network of facilities which revealed that more information dissemination is needed to attract users to them.
  
  

  Gràfic Deixalleries
• Treatment
  The AMB's waste management infrastructures have been optimised to lower the dependency on more end-of-life waste treatment facilities and to avoid having to send waste that may be recovered as energy or is in a landfill. The recovery of materials has also been prioritised, as seen in the attached graph. In the future, the different plants are expected to work on the incoming waste with more versatility and modularity.
  
  The AMB has increased the number of tonnes of municipal organic sorted waste (MOSW) coming from organic waste treated in metropolitan plants by 47%.
  
  The main increase came in 2018, after the approval of the new public prices for treating MOSW, which are the same for all the metropolitan facilities. 
  
  

  Gràfic Evolució de la gestió dels residus municipals

  
  Also during this period, the AMB and the Waste Agency have identified and raised awareness of the organic matter within the metropolitan region among one-off producers, primarily commercial.
  
  The forecast, calculated based on the requests received throughout 2018, is that around 30,000 tonnes of MOSW from one-off sources will be treated in 2019.
  
  MBT: Mechanical Biological Treatment
  
  

  Gràfic Tones FORM singular

  
  
  

  Gràfic Nombre de grans productors FORM

  • Triage plants
    The AMB has two triage plants for light plastic/metal containers (yellow dumpster): one located in the Llobregat sector, in Gavà, and the other located in the Besòs sector, in Montcada i Reixac, with a total treatment capacity of approximately 50,000 tonnes per year. In this mandate, there has been an increase in the plastic/metal container recovery rate.
    
    

    Gràfic Evolució de la recollida selectiva d'envasos i residus d'envasos

    
    

    Plastic/metal container sorting and waste have increased during the mandate, going from 37,624 tonnes sorted in 2015 to 46,190 in 2018, a 23 % increase.
    
    These figures are verging on the capacity limit, and this circumstance is reflected in the new metropolitan programme drawn up for the period 2019-2025, which includes the need to expand the treatment capacity.
    
    

    Gràfic Distribució d'envasos segons planta

    
    
    
    
    Ever since the triage plant for municipal inorganic sorted waste (MISW), located in Molins de Rei, started operating after being remodelled and expanded, its recovery levels have increased substantially, from less than 20 % of the materials to almost 24 %.
    
    

    Gràfic Recuperació de la planta de triatge de Molins de Rei

    
    

    Gràfic % valoritzat planta triatge de Molins de Rei
  • Composting plants
    During the mandate, the objective of improving the quality of the composting in the two composting plants has been reinforced.
    
    The most important remodelling in this period was the composting plant in Torrelles de Llobregat. The prime goal of this project was to lower its environmental impact in terms of odours and to improve the quality of the compost produced. Major modifications were made that affect both the preparation of the mix to be composted, with the incorporation of a Unifeed which enables bags to be opened and plant waste to be mixed, and the fermentation of the material, which has gone from being done in piles that were flipped to ventilated silos using an automated watering system.
    
    Additionally, the two composting plants (in Torrelles de Llobregat and Sant Cugat del Vallès) have incorporated new SCADA systems, which enable the composting process to be monitored and automated.
    
    The outcome of these actions is the attainment of the AMB Compost, a composting certificate produced in the Torrelles composting plant following the CE 834/2007 certification, which allows it to be used in ecological crops. The plant has been equipped with a bagging machine in order to expand the market of the compost produced.
  • Bulk waste plants
    In order to improve the service and meet the increasing need for the treatment of the bulky waste produced within the metropolitan area, in 2018 a public tender to treat bulky waste in the Besòs sector was announced.
    
    Thanks to the contracting of the plant that won the tender, which is located in the township of Sabadell near the municipalities in the Besòs sector in the metropolitan area, the capacity to treat bulky municipal waste has risen by 12,000 tonnes per year, and the total capacity to treat bulky waste has increased from 65,000 to 77,000 tonnes per year.
    
    

    Gràfic Evolució de la generació residus voluminosos
  • Treatment of waste from road cleaning
    In 2018, a tender was announced for the treatment of road waste, the only kind of municipal waste which until then had gone directly to end-of-life waste treatment: landfill (LF) and/or energy recovery plant. With this tender, there are two plants, one in the Llobregat sector (in Barcelona's Zona Franca) and the other in the Besòs sector (in Sabadell), which enable 87% of this waste meant for the landfill to be processed. In 2018, a total of 82,000 tonnes of road cleaning waste was produced, 7% of which went to mechanical treatment, 13% to energy recovery and 80% to landfill.
    
    In 2019, 75% of the waste from road cleaning is expected to be mechanically treated, 18% is predicted to be recovered for energy and only 7% will go directly to landfills.
    
    

    Gràfic Generació de residus de neteja viària

    
    

    Gràfic Destí de la neteja viària
  • Mechanical biological treatment plants (Ecoparcs)
    These facilities have increased their processing capacity as well as their recovery of usable materials, which is currently 10 % of all incoming waste. Unfortunately, this increase has not come with a decrease in market price.
    
    

    Gràfic Recuperació ecoparcs

    
    Also worth noting is the effort made by some facilities to lower their environmental impact. Some of the actions which have led to this improved capacity and the increase in the quality of the process and environmental quality are:
    
    

    • Continuous improvement in the preventative maintenance processes and the introduction of scheduled stoppages of the facilities
    • Simplification and automation of the biological processes. The difficulty managing the biostabilised waste generated from the organic matter contained in the waste prompted the transition towards the production of biogenic matter through bio-drying process, which is sent to the energy recovery plant in Sant Adrià de Besòs. Obtaining this material has lowered the impact of the odours in facilities that have implemented it and shortened the processing time.

    Gràfic Gestió matèria orgànica de la resta (en tones)
  • Energy recovery plant (introduction of tools to improve and optimise its management)
    In the course of this mandate, new improvements were implemented in the energy recovery plant in Sant Adrià de Besòs in order to adapt it to the new flows and improve its operational management. Once the adaptation of the ovens and steam circuit were concluded in order to recover waste with a higher heating power, the plant's data acquisition and management systems were improved via a Historian database (2018-2019), the gas cleaning control system was replaced (2018) with a shift from the Profibus to the Profinet system (2019) and a system was installed to continuously measure the levels of the feeding tanks in the plant, which optimises their management (2018).
    
    Additionally, in 2016-17 a desalinisation plant was built which lowered the consumption of water from the network.
    
    Finally, with the goal of anticipating future laws, in 2019 the tender of a new catalytic system to eliminate NO_x was completed with the goal of reaching even more restrictive emissions levels.
  • Landfills
    In the past three years, important tenders and commissions were undertaken aimed at gaining knowledge and improving the environmental conditions around the main landfills managed by the AMB, such as the Vall d'en Joan landfill (Gavà-Begues) and the Can Planas landfill (Cerdanyola del Vallès). They include the following:
    
    

    • Sealing project and complementary actions in the Can Planas dumpsite
    • Executive project on the hydraulic barrier in Can Planas in the township of Cerdanyola del Vallès
    • Basic restoration project of zones III and IV in the Vall d'en Joan landfill in the township of Begues
    • Executive project to close the Vall d'en Joan dumpsite. Yards A, B and C, in the township of Begues
    • Executive project to restore yards A and road 1 in zones III and IV in the Vall d'en Joan landfill in Begues
    • Commission of different studies on the hydrodynamic behaviour of the aquifers located under these landfills 
    • Award and start of construction on the hydraulic barrier in Can Planas in the township of Cerdanyola del Vallès

    Also worth noting are the interventions in all the AMB's landfills, consisting in post-closure monitoring and maintenance: the treatment of leachates, the energy recovery of biogas from the Vall d'en Joan landfill, monitoring of the subterranean water, monitoring and correction of settlements, cleaning and maintenance of the different drainage networks, road maintenance and repair, maintenance and care of the vegetation, and recording all the technical information required to comply with the regulations and monitoring plans agreed upon.
    
    Also worth noting are the sealing operations, which started in late 2018, of the entire surface yet to be closed, approximately 45 hectares, of the Vall d'en Joan landfill in order to guarantee the minimum environmental impact.
• Environmental monitoring
  All the AMB's waste treatment facilities have had an Environmental Monitoring Plan implemented for years, and the majority are certified with the ISO 14001 standard. The facilities that have earned this certification during the 2015-2019 mandate (which did not have it before) are the triage plant in Molins de Rei, the composting plant in Torrelles and the transfer plant in Viladecans.
  
  Work continues on constantly improving all the treatment processes so that the environmental impact is minimal. The objective is to lower greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that the lifecycle of the waste management system lowers its carbon footprint.
  
  The odours stemming from waste treatment are one of the most important impacts that must be considered and lowered. Even though the channelled emissions treatment systems are monitored, diffuse, leaked emissions are also dealt with via plans to maintain and revise the air-tightness of the installations.
  
  In 2019, the calculation of retrotrajectories was added to the management of complaints about odours. The D-Noses project, in which the AMB participates as an advisory councillor, also promotes citizen science with the goal of co-producing solutions to the impact of odours with key stakeholders.
  
  
• Research and innovation
  During this period, participation was ratcheted up in research projects with European financing whose goal is to innovate in sustainable technologies and solutions in the sphere of urban waste management, to promote the circular economy and to contribute to lowering greenhouse gases. Some of these projects are:
  
  - Res Urbis – RESources from URban BIo-waSte. Part of the Horizon 2020 Programme, the goal is to integrate the use of innovative technology to convert the organic matter from a range of urban wastes (MOSW, waste from food production, sludge rom urban purification stations and plant remains from parks and gardens) into PHA bioplastics (polyhydroxyalkanoates). The aim is to study whether it is feasible to implement this technology in a waste management facility in order to obtain added-value products and lower the amount of waste subjected to end-of-life treatment and/or sent to the landfill.
  
  - LIFE Methamorphosis – Treatment of waste to obtain water to reuse and biomethane in the transport sector to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the LIFE Programme, the goal is to recover biogas from the treatment of organic matter from municipal and agro-industrial waste in order to get high-quality biomethane which could be used in lightweight and heavy vehicles. It also seeks to increase the efficiency of the wastewater treatment process in a biological mechanical waste treatment facility via anammox bacteria, with a reduction of the need for oxygen and the addition of extra carbon.
  
  - WaystUp. As part of the Horizon 2020 Programme, this seeks to demonstrate the establishment of new value chains for municipal organic waste which enable bioproducts with high added value to be produced. They would be tested in seven demonstration pilot plants which will be built in different European cities. Each would treat a particular kind of biowaste: food remains, cooking oils, MOSW, sludge from purification stations and cellulose fibres from refuse currents, both municipal solid waste and purification stations. Some of the products it seeks to obtain are bioplastics, biosolvents, biocarbon, coffee oil, flavouring agents and polyphenols.
  
  Res Urbis
  LIFE Methamorphosis
• Governance
  The attainment of the objectives set in the PREMET25 and the implementation of the actions provided for require new forms of governance, which the AMB should lead in the metropolitan area. This governance should incorporate instruments which facilitate collective learning based on existing experiences, generate space of cooperation among stakeholders and have sufficient tools to ensure transparency, accountability and public participation.
  
  This mandate has spearheaded the move towards public waste management with the specific examples of biogas extraction and treatment service generated at the Vall d'en Joan landfill and the operation of the bulky waste treatment plant in Gavà. This shift in the management models seeks to achieve more transparency, economic savings and direct optimisation of processes.
  
  In this sense, different actions were undertaken, including an improvement in the economic instruments. Worth noting is the major revision of the metropolitan waste treatment tax (TMTR) to make it a more solid source of financing and the fairer and more incentive-oriented allocation of the waste sorting contribution of each of the municipalities, while also laying the groundwork for providing the more active municipalities with economic support to improve their waste collection.
  
  On the other hand, work was also undertaken to make the TMTR more transparent and familiar to the citizenry via a redesign of the water invoices and communication campaigns in different channels, such as sponsored content in the written media and a specific website.
  
  Furthermore, the scope of the Social TMTR was expanded, which now incorporates the criteria established in Law 24/2015 and reaches abatements of up to 100%. The AMB has also been expanding the concept of basic services to include not only water, electricity and gas but also waste.
  
  It is worth highlighting that the public plant entry prices have been revised in order to set a single fee regardless of the destination facility; the treatment costs of organic matter have been lowered (by including the repayment of the tax from the Catalonia Waste Agency); and the monitoring of the management of private operators has been improved – in conjunction with the Barcelona Town Hall and the Catalonia Waste Agency – which has allowed one-off producers of organic matter to enter the metropolitan facilities.
  
  In terms of support for the municipalities, a line of subsidies worth 4 million euros was created, which has contributed to financing waste sorting planning and improvement actions – via individualisation – in 23 municipalities. Finally, the spaces where knowledge and work can be exchanged with the municipalities have continued with environmental seminars which enabled different initiatives underway within the AMB's environmental authorities to be addressed and debated.
  
  

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