The Basque Deputy Minister for the Environment, Josu Bilbao, and Bilbao City Council Director of Services, Jose Luis Azpiazu, have highlighted the environmental improvement from the two projects undertaken in the city thanks to the support of the Euskadi NEXT programme, which is managed by the Basque Government's Ministry of Industry, the Energy Transition and Sustainability in conjunction with Ihobe.

Specifically, the City Council has received over €490,000 from the NEXT Funds to upgrade the Bilbogarbi Elorrieta facilities and for better management of non-household waste from a score of hotels.

Two projects are underway: one to upgrade the Bilbogarbi recycling centre in Elorrieta, and the other to optimise the collection of non-household waste of twenty hotels of the capital

The upgrading of the Bilbogarbi Elorrieta, with a subsidy of €400,000, has improved this waste collection facility, including the collection of textile and hazardous household waste.

The Bilbogarbi Elorrieta renovation has included purchasing appropriate bins and cages to store the waste fractions and scales to weigh the incoming and outgoing waste. The roof of the waste storage area has also been upgraded, with priority given to the waste where exposure to the sun and water has a detrimental effect on its recycling or recovery for reuse; such waste includes electronic and electrical waste, batteries, textiles, varnishes and other hazardous household waste.

Furthermore, the hazardous waste storage area has been waterproofed and spillages contained; there is now better access control to the waste storage area, including railings, access control systems, closure of storage areas, CCTV and alarm systems, among others.

In addition, a pilot scheme has been run to implement an efficient separate collection model for large producers of non-household waste (organic fraction, paper and cardboard, and bins), such as hotels, by means of using sensors and controlling the opening of bins, along with weighing the lorries; the result is that 6 fewer tonnes of CO2 are emitted to the atmosphere each year.

Those results have been achieved by working with a group of 20 hotels to pinpoint their needs and to design together the technical and functional requirements of the new door-to-door non-household waste collection service. Therefore, weighing systems have been installed in two multi-chamber rear loader bin lorries and 80 waste bins with sensors and opening control for the different waste fractions.

A grant of €400,000 has been awarded for the upgrading of the Bilbogarbi Elorrieta recycling centre

During the visit to the projects, the Basque Deputy Minister for the Environment, Josu Bilbao, stressed the importance of this type of initiatives, as "they not only streamline waste management, but they also help to reduce greenhouse gases". Specifically, the emissions averted by the organic fraction, paper & cardboard, and bins are estimated to have reached a total of 6,095.64 kg of CO2 a year. The Deputy Minister indicated that supporting this type of projects comes under the "Basque Country's climate action and decarbonisation strategy".

In turn, Bilbao City Council's Director of Services, Jose Luis Azpiazu, stressed “the importance” of the Euskadi NEXT programme “as it has allowed municipalities to embrace innovative initiatives and continue to face our short- and medium-term environmental challenges. And, in particular, those to do with managing municipal solid waste".

Working with the hotels has been fundamental for the success of this initiative, which are seeking to establish a new adaptable collection model that is scalable for the whole non-household sector. This pilot scheme not only optimises the municipal resources used, but it also generates traceable and accurate information on the waste contribution of each stakeholder, thus facilitating the decision making to reduce the amount of waste generated.

The non-household waste pilot scheme in hotels received over €90,000 in funding and 20 hotels took part. Its implementation will result in 6 fewer tonnes of CO2 being emitted to the atmosphere a year

The Next Funds in the Basque Country

Thanks to the NextGenerationEU funds, the Basque Government's Ministry of Industry, the Energy Transition and Sustainability set up the Euskadi NEXT programme, endowed with over €18 million in grants to support a hundred or so projects to implement the waste legislation and to drive the circular economy.

The grants have been awarded to municipalities, provincial governments, local authority associations, district authorities and publicly-owned companies that provide waste collection or treatment services.

The projects receiving this funding include the construction of preparing for reuse plants in Gipuzkoa and Araba; building composting plants in Bizkaia; upgrading garbigunes in the three provinces, and the introduction of a bin systems to extend the separate collection of organic material.

All the projects receiving Euskadi NEXT funds will have to be implemented before 31 May 2026.