Waste, City Strategies & Governance, environment and climate change
Optimization of waste collection in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat (Catalonia)
El Prat de Llobregat is a municipality in the Baix Llobregat region of Catalonia with a population of 65,385 inhabitants (2020). In 2018, the city council launched a public tender for the cleaning service of public spaces and the collection of urban waste for a period of eight years and with a budget of 9.3 millions €/year, which included several improvements that helped the city optimize its waste collection.
Challenges addressed
The main challenges identified have been related to the poor functioning accuracy of the filling sensors installed in the buckets of light containers and in those of paper and cardboard.
Main objectives
- Improvement of the quality of the waste collection service.
- Adaptation to the real residents’ needs.
- Reduction of noise and CO2
External resources
Waste collection in El Prat de Llobregat (in Catalan)
Facts
Project type Optimization of waste collection and logistic routes
Partners City Council of El Prat de Llobregat (implementing entity)
Beneficiaries El Prat de Llobregat municipality / citizens
Dates 2018
Funding Own resources
Project description
The new contract for the cleaning service of 2018 included several improvements that helped the city optimize the collection process.
First, new metallic containers with volume sensors were installed to know when containers are full. Of the total number of containers (1,458) used in the municipality, 500 were equipped with sensors. Sensors had a price of 160 €/unit, but they had very low energy consumption.
Secondly, weighing systems were also introduced in 9 collection trucks to measure the weight of the different collected waste fractions. This system had a cost of 10,000 €/truck.
Finally, a route optimization software linked to sensors and weighing systems was implemented. This software also checked that the service offered was consistent with the contract (payment according to results and performance).
Impact and results
- Sensors helped the optimization of the containers’ capacity, avoiding overload problems, and allowing route optimization, giving priority to the areas where it was possible to find full containers.
- Weighing systems have allowed the municipality to redesign the amount and distribution of containers in the city, adapting it to real residents’ needs.
- Finally, the municipality could also replace 50 vehicles of the service for electric, hybrid, or gas vehicles, reducing noise and CO2 emissions
- The optimization systems contributed to increase the percentage of separate waste collection in the city.
Publications & main documents
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