Municipal Solid Waste of the Basque Country Inventory
Municipal Solid Waste of the Basque Country Inventory This document provides the necessary information to rewrite the history of the evolution of the generation and management of waste in the BAC. This information is necessary to plan waste management, as well as to better adapt to the policies defined in the European Union.
The inventories are available for perusal on the website of the Basque Government's Ministry of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment.
Municipal Solid Waste of the Basque Country Inventory
Hazardous Waste Inventory of the BAC
In addition of the amount of hazardous waste generated, this annual inventory contains comprehensive information relating to the treatment or fate of the inventoried waste, along with its imports and exports to and from the BAC.
The inventories are available for perusal on the website of the Basque Government's Ministry of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment.
Waste and the Circular Economy
The "Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy" communication, approved by the European Commission in December 2015, and as a preliminary step of the first Action Plan for a circular economy in Europe, identified several fundamental lines of action:
- Product design.
- Efficient production process.
- Consumption.
- Waste management, with priority being given to plastics, food waste, critical raw materials, construction & demolition waste and biomass/bioproducts.
- Secondary raw materials market.
Furthermore, and reflecting this approach, the Circular Economy Action Plan prepared by the European Commission in 2020 (it is one of the main aspects of the European Green Deal) defines guaranteeing the generation of less waste as one of its fundamental goals, along with increasing the circularity potential of resources.
Advanced waste management is therefore a mainstay within the circular economy concepts.
In recent years, the Basque Country has addressed numerous initiatives to foster ecodesign, ecoefficiency and responsible consumption, but has detected a margin for improvement in the contribution of waste management and the secondary raw materials market to a new Basque circular economy model.
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2030 Basque Waste Prevention and Management Plan (PPGR 2030)
In November 2021, the Basque Government approved the 2030 Waste Prevention and Management Plan of the Basque Country, which set out the strategy to be followed by the Basque Country during the coming decade.
The goals set by the plan for 2030 are to:
- Cut the total waste generation rate by 30%
- Increase the separate collection of municipal waste up to 85%
- Reuse 85% of non-hazardous waste by turning it into secondary materials
- Reduce the waste ending up in landfill by at least 15%.
The implementation of the 2030 Waste Prevention and Management Plan of the Basque Country will involve an investment of €97 million in numerous actions that will be aimed at achieving the circularity of materials, i.e., so that they can be used to manufacture new products; climate change mitigation; transparency and traceability in waste management.
The future measures studied included grants for companies to increase recycling, a charge to discourage the use of landfill, and increasing and improving environmental inspections and oversight.
The plan defines 10 key measures to achieve the envisaged results. They are set out below in order of priority in terms of impact on results:
- Investment plan and roadmap to support the priority investments to minimise landfill and give impetus to circularity
- Guaranteeing the landfill self-sufficiency of the BAC by 2030, in parallel to minimising landfill and the appropriate closure of the existing ones
- Waste legislative developments
- Tax on landfill and incineration of waste and extracting aggregates
- Increasing the resources of the administration to ensure the implementation of the PPGR 2030
- Private-public comprehensive solutions for the interim storage, adaptation and quality control of aggregates, soils and other secondary raw materials
- Support for definitive solutions for plastic waste and avoiding it ending up in landfill
- Fostering green private and public procurement by means of the new 2030 Green Procurement Programme of the Basque Country
- Measures to foster high quality reuse and recycling, including assessment from an economic, social and environmental perspective of deposit and return systems (DRS), and deployment as necessary
- Asbestos removal plan (collection and management of structural fibre cement) by the public working with the provincial councils and Osalan
What is the European Week for Waste Reduction?
The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), which started out as a LIFE project, is the largest campaign to create awareness about reducing waste in Europe. Driven by regional and local public authorities, we bring together all stakeholders (citizens, schools, companies, NGOs, associations, etc.) that organise activities to raise awareness about reducing waste.
The European Week for Waste Reduction has become a benchmark to disseminate and showcase the actions implemented to reduce waste throughout Europe.
The goals of the European Week for Waste Reduction are to:
- Raise awareness about waste reduction, the reuse of products and the material recycling strategies, and the related policies of the European Union and the Member States
- Highlight the work by participants
- Mobilise and encourage European citizens to focus on the key action themes
- And strengthen the capacities of stakeholders by providing them with specific communication and training
The Week is organised in the BAC by the Municipal Waste Coordinating Body (OCRU) of the Basque Autonomous Community, made up of the Basque Government's Ministry of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, along with the Environment Departments of the three Provincial Councils.
The OCRU offers stakeholders a support service to facilitate the registration process as far as possible. The stakeholders only have to facilitate a small description of their action. The OCRU carries out the other formalities.
The best entries are selected and recognised from among all those submitted in the BAC. In addition to that recognition, the OCRU then puts forward the managers of the selected projects to the EU organisers as entries for the European award.
The 3 Rs
The actions carried out under the European Week for Waste Reduction address the 3Rs: Reducing waste, Reusing products, and Recycling materials – in this order.
Reduce:
Ask yourselves whether you really need the goods you are about to buy before buying them. That also goes for the packaging in which some products come as well. Can you perhaps repurpose things or borrow from a friend or fix broken objects or share a neighbour’s tools? If the answer is yes, then you can –and should– REDUCE.
Reuse:
Swap single-use items for reusable ones in every area of your life! That’s the case not only for plastic, but for all other single-use items and products! Convince your employer, classmates, family, friends, or neighbours to do the same!
Recycle:
Is better than landfilling, but it’s not our preferred option. If you need to recycle something, it means that you’re already generating waste. If you’re serious about reusing and reducing, recycling should only constitute a small part of your efforts.
The RCDs in the Basque Country
For more than 10 years, the Basque Government has been working on the design and implementation of a specific framework for CDW management that combines proper management with the creation of a market for quality recycled materials.
Throughout this time, a wide range of instruments and resources have been implemented to achieve this. These have ranged from legislative resources to the definition of green public procurement criteria for the sector; financial support for circular economy demonstration projects; training courses; development of software applications; and the publication of manuals and technical guides.
All this work has been carried out within a framework of public-private collaboration, with ongoing meetings and contacts with industry stakeholders throughout this period.
The result of this work is that construction and demolition waste management in the Basque Country has begun to clearly improve. Waste managed in an unknown or illegal manner accounted for 40% in 2009, and by 2016, this figure had dropped to 26%.
The challenge is to meet the European targets of ensuring that 70% of the CDW generated is reused and recycled by 2020 within a circular economy framework.
RCD Guides
The public company Ihobe has developed extensive technical information aimed at achieving better environmental management of CDW.
These include:
It provides basic information on the origin of recycled aggregates, the relevant regulations associated with the use of these materials, and how to include green purchasing criteria for recycled aggregates in procurement processes.
The manual aims to raise awareness of the potential for reusing aggregates from CDW, providing tools that address all possible applications of recycled aggregates in public development projects.
Uses of mixed recycled aggregates from Construction and Demolition Waste
This document compiles the results of research conducted by various institutions and entities on the characterization of mixed recycled aggregates and their use in various construction applications.
Otros documentos de interés y enlaces de interés
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Bases de precios de edificación y urbanización
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Protocolo de gestión de residuos de construcción y demolición en la Unión Europea
EEH Aurrezten web application
The EEH-AURREZTEN web application, developed by Ihobe, the Basque Government's Public Environmental Management Company, facilitates the calculation and verification of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) Management Studies, the CDW Management Plan, and the Final Management Report.
These documents are part of the obligations established for the various stakeholders in Decree 112/2012, which regulates the production and management of construction and demolition waste in the Basque Country.
To facilitate compliance with these obligations, Ihobe has developed this tool designed to assist all parties involved in construction or demolition work:
The tool contains templates for drafting all documents and is supported by the ratios established in Decree 112/2012 for calculating CDW generation. The management prices are also aligned with those in the database Euskadiprecios
Access
To access the EEH Aurrezten application, you must be registered on the Ihobe website.
European HISER project
The public company Ihobe is participating in the HISER project, the main objective of which is to develop and demonstrate new, cost-effective holistic solutions (technological and non-technological) to increase the recovery of raw materials from construction and demolition waste, considering circular economy approaches throughout the entire construction value chain.
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The project, with a budget of €7.5 million, is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 program and involves 25 partners from nine countries, including Tecnalia, Gaiker, and the public company Ihobe.
