According to the statistics of the Catalan Waste Agency on individual results by municipalities in 2020, it is worth highlighting the improvements in selective collection in many municipalities in the region.

Argentona stands out with 88.15% of selective collection, followed by 74.79% in Arenys de Munt. 5 municipalities already exceed 60%: Sant Pol de Mar (67.46%), Cabrera de Mar (62.92%), Teià (62.76%), Canet de Mar (61.23%) and Sant Vicenç de Montalt (60.13%). Another 10 municipalities exceed 50%: Sant Andreu de Llavaneres (58.60%), Sant Cebrià de Vallalta (57.48%), Alella (56.85%), Dosrius (56.45%), Òrrius (54.05%), Arenys de Mar (53.90%), Cabrils (53.52%), Vilassar de Mar (52.26%), Premià de Dalt (51.64%) and Vilassar de Dalt (51 ,07%).

Despite these good results from some municipalities in a 2020 marked by the pandemic and a change in both consumption habits and the generation of waste, the Maresme has taken a small step backwards in its selective collection results compared to the previous year.

Specifically, 47.27% of waste was collected selectively, or 113,684 tonnes, which represents a reduction of -1.58% compared to the previous year, according to data published by the Catalan Waste Agency.

The figures reveal that selective collection in the county is 259.86 kg per inhabitant per year, while the remaining fraction (everything that is collected mixed) stands at 289.83 kg per inhabitant per year.

Despite remaining clearly above the Catalan average (47.27% of selective collection in Maresme compared to 45.9% in Catalonia as a whole), the Maresme hasn’t followed the small upward trend in 2020.

0.4% increase of selective collection in Catalonia

In Catalonia, there was a slight increase in selective collection of 0.4% in 2020, with a 10.7% increase in packaging, accompanied by a 1.3% increase in paper/cardboard, while the collection of organic material fell by -3.9% and glass by a very significant -9.9%. These differences have been marked by the change in citizens’ habits as a result of the lockdown and closure of establishments generating this waste. On the other hand, in Maresme there has been a 5.00% increase in the collection of packaging, while the rest of the fractions have suffered reductions of -4.27% in the case of paper/cardboard, -4.13% in the case of organic matter and -2.86% in the case of glass.

A year conditioned by the pandemic

In terms of total municipal waste generation, despite the effects of the pandemic, the reductions have not been particularly significant (-1.48% in Maresme and -1.8% in Catalonia as a whole), well below the economic impact associated with the consequences of Covid-19.

In short, 2020 has been strongly conditioned by the circumstances of the pandemic. However, these results for selective collection and the actual recycling of a large part of this collection, with the incorporation of material recovery of the remaining fraction, allow the whole of Maresme to be close to the European target of 50% recycling by 2020.

In any case, the ambitious European targets for the future are a great challenge for those municipalities with room for improvement to implement decisive actions to increase selective collection and reduce the remaining fraction over the coming years.

Map of the results of selective waste collection in the Maresme region in 2020 / ARC

Complete statistics at http://estadistiques.arc.cat/ARC/