the quality of municipal information on waste

The Quality ofMunicipal

Informationon Waste

www.ocu.org

OCU_ENG.qxd 07/07/2014 12:31 PÆgina 1

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Introduction [03]

Objective [05]

Methodology [06]

What the municipal information on the website should be like [08]

- General characteristics [08]

- Basic content [11]

Conclusions of the study [21]

Recommendations [22]

Index


Introduction

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Citizens play aan eessential rrole iinwaste mmanagement: so that wastecan be correctly treated it needs to beplaced in the corresponding containerand in the correct way (separated,crushed, empty, etc.)

Nevertheless, European citizens and,in particular, Spanish citizens feel tthatwe aare nnot ssufficiently iinformed(1)

about what happens to the wasteonce it has been handed over, whateffect our collaboration has (howmuch waste has been managed, how much contamination has beenprevented, etc.) and we are not satisfied with the means establishedfor communicating if we have anyquestions about how to proceed(where to go to get rid of certain kindsof waste, advice on separatingcorrectly, etc.). This compromises theevolution and progress of the system,it is not only a matter of image(2).

We have all asked ourselves or atsome time questioned the destinationof the waste that we put into the con-tainers or that we take to the PuntosLimpios (recycling centres). It is ourobligation to separate waste at homeand take it to the delivery point, but itis not always easy: we are short ofspace for so many containers, we livefar from the Puntos Limpios (recyclingcentres) or they have opening timesthat are incompatible with our domestic routine and we find ittedious if we do not occasionally

receive motivation, data about theresults, about what happens to thewaste once it has been deposited inthe corresponding container. We mayeven stop doing it or not put so mucheffort into it, if every time we have adoubt or look for information we donot find it, are not attended or do notunderstand it.

Local aauthorities aare rresponsible fforcollecting ddomestic wwaste in towncentres and, therefore, they are themain point of connection between thecitizen and the system that is respon-sible for managing urban waste (recy-cling it, burning it, taking it to landfill,etc.). Therefore, it is important thatthey inform us about the means avai-lable to citizens for handing it in, pro-vide data about what has been collec-ted, where it has been processed andoffer advice on how to improve thequality of the processing. However,they should also be willing to solveany doubts or complaints that mayarise about certain waste and/or howthe system functions, meaning thatthere should be an open channel tobe able to contact them to deal withany doubts, complaints or sugges-tions. In short, communication shouldgo in two directions, there should be achannel that is ready to give informa-tion and is willing to listen if we reallywant to make citizens feel that theyare participating and responsible forwaste management.

((11)) OCU Salud April 2013 Environmental PollutionSurvey; OCU Compra Maestra November 2012Environmental Behaviour Survey.((22)) In recent surveys carried out in the UK, 32% ofthose who answered said that they would be willingto recycle more if they were better informed (Reportof a survey of public awareness of recycling and recy-cled products. Survey commissioned by theResource Association from YouGov. June 2012)


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Intr

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INFORMATION: In the Environmental Behaviour Survey (Compra Maestra magazineNovember 2012, we discovered that the information to stimulate good environmen-tal behaviour obtained the worst score (45/100) with regard to satisfaction withmunicipal environmental policies, as opposed to waste collection which obtain73/100.

In the last survey on waste carried out by the OCU(May 2011), 20% of those who answered repliedthat it was complicated for them to separate wastewith the current collection system, above all due tolack of information.

Table 113 SPAIN | Satisfaction with the environmental policies and infrastructure

D

21 %

20 %

11 %

32 %

35 %

46 %

34 %

27 %

57 %

38 %

38 %

32 %

36 %

37 %

33 %

43 %

39 %

32 %

41 %

42 %

57 %

32 %

28 %

21 %

23 %

34 %

11 %

Low Medium HighIndex

(max. 100)

Level of satisfaction Parameters

Easiness of complying with the collection system

Very easy

Easy

Easy/Difficult

Difficult

Very difficult

Total

8.05 %

37.87 %

34.31 %

14.51 %

5.26 %

100.00 %

Accessibility to waste separation containers

Accessibility to waste containers without separation

Waste collection

Collection of large electrical household appliances

Accessibility and correct functioning of Puntos Limpios (recycling centres)

Bicycle lanes (availability, maintenance, safety)

Pedestrian areas (availability, maintenance, safety)

Accessibility or availability of public transport

Information offered to encourage ecological behaviour

64

64

73

57

55

47

54

60

41


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ObjectiveThe objective of this study is toassess tthe qquality oof iinformation of tthe aauthorities cclose tto tthe citizens (mainly town councils) in mmatters oof wwaste, to verify how easy it is to contact them and solve doubts, at the same time as analysing the quality of the information made available to the public, to be able to concludewhether it is sufficient to keep thecitizens informed and motivated.


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Methodology

We chose the Internet aas tthe iinformationsupport for performing the analysis,because it has become a basic tool forinformation in recent years. In fact, in2012, when we asked our members in afocus group study about where they loo-ked for information when they haddoubts about environmental matters,they said that they looked in Internet(they did not look for specific pages, theywent straight to Google). Therefore, wefocused our study on analysing the infor-

mation on town council websites,although, if we did not find anything, wemade a Google search in case therewere specific pages, which is somethingsimilar to what any citizen would do.

We did this by looking for the same kindof iinformation, following a survey inwhich we included questions aboutaspects that contributed most and thatwe considered to be basic:

Basic information

Where and how I should deposit my waste

... to make the task easier

What the treatment process is

... to avoid suspicion

What the result of my collaboration is

... to convince me about its usefulness

How to get in contact to solve doubts or to make a complaint

... to maintain the collaboration

How we did the study

i The study was carried out byOCU during the second semesterof 2013 and its main results werepublished in the February 2014issue of Compra Maestra magazine.


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Met

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We looked for information for two different kinds of waste: paper aand batteries.

Paper, because it is a non-hazardouswaste, that is collected in a specific sin-gle material container, with a very highpercentage of citizen participation, witha seasonal nature to its collection, withenvironmental benefits for recycling it,as opposed to burning it or putting it ina landfill site and with social benefits forrecycling it nearby to create greenemployment.

Batteries, because this enables us tosee the quality of the information withregard to problematic waste that isslightly different because it occurs withless frequency in homes (greater possi-bility of dispersion or laziness in separa-ting). They pose a greater pollution pro-blem if they are not properly recycled(they contain toxic components, which iswhy they are qualified as hazardous).There are also specific containers butthey are not always out in the street, weare less familiar with the process andsometimes suspicion has been arousedamong the general public about whe-

ther they are really recycled or whetherthey end up in landfill sites.We chose 35 ccities, 29 capitals of provi-dence and 6 other important towns(Marbella, Torrejón de Ardoz, Terrassa,Gijón, Santiago de Compostela andElche), distributed over all theAutonomous Communities; we alsoincluded the cities with the highest andthe lowest scores with regard to satis-faction with the implementation andinformation about municipal environ-mental measures from the last surveyon environmental behaviour (OCU,Compra Maestra, November 2012).

Once we had analysed the websites, we contacted those responsible formunicipal waste in the towns selectedso that they could tell us where to findthe information we were looking for. Inthis way, we completed the data we hadon the available information at thesame time as assessing the ease ofaccess to it.

Survey on environmental behaviour


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What the municipal information on thewebsite should be like

Consumers must be able to find theinformation about waste easily whenthey go onto a website that covers somany areas or domains. A good webpage will contain information aboutwaste:

- GGrouped, thinking about how the citi-zen will use it. Good examples would bethe websites of León or Granada, withconcise yet comprehensive informationpresented in a way that everything canbe seen quickly, quite the opposite toValladolid which has the informationdotted around in different sections (youhave to go to Citizen Service, write thename of the waste in the search engineand you are given a list with the infor-mation in text with the collection pointsand the companies dedicated to it. Inanother section of Your City, you willfind a List of Services where there arethe regulations and the ways of submit-ting suggestions and complaints, etc.).Other examples of disperse informationwere found for Vitoria and Jaén.

- That it should be found in logical ppla-

ces. It is acceptable that the bylaws onwaste should be grouped in a generalsection of the town council page that iscalled regulations or something similarand not in the waste section, butnobody expects to have to go intoPublic Health, as is the case forValencia, or to have to enter into thePrinted forms and documents sectionof the Information and Citizen Servicesection to find information about how torecycle correctly or the recycling cycle(the case of Las Palmas).

- Get there by means of simple browsing mmovements. Citizens expectto find the data regarding wastedirectly in an environmental area, suchas in Albacete, which has it in theThemes> environment section, but notto have to go sorting through screensthat do not have clear names, as wasthe case for Zaragoza where you needto go into The City> Services andPublic Highway, and not intoEnvironment.

-- It makes the job much easier if thereis a search eengine on the homepage of

the website where users can search forwhat they are looking for and that willtake them directly to the content (thecase of Segovia with "I am looking forinformation about�")

- One very common error we discoveredis that there was no link bbetween tthetown ccouncil wwebsite aand tthat oof tthewaste mmanagement ccompany whenboth of them provided information. Theyshould complement each other andredirect users, as in the case of thewebsite for Terrassa (with Ecoquip)where it would seem they share sec-tions to prevent duplication. However,we did not see this, for example, inZaragoza, Santander, Cáceres, Logroño,Palma de Mallorca or Badajoz. Thecase of Ciudad Real is even moreserious because not only was there nolink to the Consortium website, butthere was hardly any information on thetown council website and theConsortium only provided general oradded information about all the munici-palities that it manages. If you requireparticular information you need to havea password (register with the site).

General characteristics: Accessible | Comprehensible | Appealing | Updated

Accessible


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- It should not contain texts with technical llanguage that cannot becorrectly understood by peoplewithout specific training. We did notdetect special problems in this aspect.

- However, we did come across a significant barrier: languages. So thatevery citizen can understand the con-tent, the information should be, at thevery least, in the official language ofour country, Spanish, and it is advisa-ble that it should also be in other lan-guages that are commonly spoken inthe area (Catalan, Euskera, Galician,etc.). It is also recommended that itshould be translated into English,above all if it is a tourist area, and if it is an area with a predominantlyimmigrant population (colonies ofRomanians, Moroccans, Russians,etc.), information should be providedin these languages.

We spend less and less time reading and even less so on theInternet. Information given on the website should be appealing if we want it to be read and taken in.Therefore we should:

- Lay out the page so that it is appealing and does not create a sensation of rejection at first sight(Zaragoza would be the typical exampleof a "not very appealing" page, due tothe layout not the content, because itthen has a browse menu which guidesthe search very well).

- Offer information in an organised wayto make it easy to read all the contentsand not to get lost (Vitoria would be atypical example to be improved upon,because there is no browse menu thattells you where you are at any time,and Granada would be a good exam-ple). Particular attention should be paidto the browse menus so that visitorsknow where they are at all times andcan return to a different section theyhave already consulted and that mighthave caught their attention.Not acceptable if it is only in

Catalan: Terrassa and Tarragona

A good example can be found inVitoria, with Spanish, English,French and Euskera.

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Comprehensible Appealing

Granada City Council

Granada City Council


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- AAccompany tthe mmessage wwith iillustra-tions oor iinfographics, avoiding the useof long texts (for example, it is better toinform about the waste process usinginfographics, such as those we foundon the Las Palmas website than to doso in a plain text, such as found on theBarcelona website).

- Include the information directly oon tthewebsite oor iin ssimple ddocuments tthatare eeasy tto ddownload. Avoid sendingusers to long corporate reports (forexample the Palma de Mallorca com-pany, EMAYA, gives more up-to-dateinformation in the 2011 Report, howe-ver you need to get through 52 pages),having to download a calendar to findout how to recycle (as in the case ofSegovia) or watching videos lastingmore than five minutes. Barcelona isthe typical example of a page that, atfirst sight, seems vague and imprecise,but which has a lot of information inappendices or files that need to bedownloaded.

- Yes to the use of multimedia ttoolssuch as calculators or videos, but theymust be simple and/or short.

For example, short videos, such asthose of A Coruña, are more recom-mendable than those of Murcia, where

they dedicate five minutes to explainingthe R&D of the waste obtained fromlight packing and remaining wastewithout spending a second on explai-ning how other waste, such as paper orbatteries, is processed.

The Las Palmas Observatory data cal-culator provides a lot of information,but you need to select material, year,type of collection, etc. It is good fortechnical consultations, but is not use-ful for the general public to get an ideaof how waste collection works in theirmunicipality. Only specific data is obtai-ned and the evolution cannot be seen,it is not given for all waste and can becomplex to interpret.

- Avoid having links that do nnot ffunctionor eempty ssections (company data inBadajoz, in December 2013, the FCCwebsite did not work).

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Las Palmas City Council

Las Palmas City Council

Paper and cardboard are taken to recyclingplants, where they are converted into largebales of crushed paper. These bales are putinto soak to obtain paper paste, which isdrained to filter out any ferric material. Theresulting paste is dried, pressed and rolledonto reels, which are distributed to thepaper factories, where they are used tomake new boxes, wrapping paper, construc-tion sacks, stationery and even lavatorypaper.

Barcelona City Council

Collecting Paper and Cardboard. During 2003,9,710 tonnes were collected; 432 one thou-sand-litre containers were installed and 9163m3 containers, making a total of 1,348 con-tainers. In 2004, 10,694 tonnes were collec-ted and 448 one thousand-litre containerswere installed and 930 3m3 ones. In 2005,11,682 tonnes were collected, 269 one thou-sand-litre containers, 249 side-loading contai-ners of 3.200 litres and 932 3m3 containerswere installed, making a total of 1,450 units.

Palma de Mallorca City Council

- Show the data in graphs rather thanin complicated tables but, above all,avoid doing so in plain text, as wefound on the website of Palma deMallorca:


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It is important that the informationshould be updated; that we should notbe talking about, for example, a "rene-wal of containers in 2010", such as wefound in the Jaén website in December2013, or about "planned" informationfor 2004 as in the case of Cáceres orthat the links that supposedly lead tofurther information do not work (as inthe case of Albacete with the "Albaceterecycles" page or in Santander in the"Get to know more about the selectivebattery collection service" section).

It is not a good idea for one part tohave more updated information thananother. For example, Barcelona hasmore recent figures on collection in theCity Figures section than in the specificwaste section.

Other ggeneral ccharacteristics aaboutwhat tthe iinformation oon tthe wwebsiteshould bbe llike: complete, rigorous andrelevant with regard to content (we willanalyse this in greater detail in thefollowing section).

- Users must find information aabout tthelocation aand tthe mmeans aavailable fforcollecting wwaste, in other words, thenearest place where they can take itand identify the type of container ordelivery point where it should be left.

Usually, information is given about con-tainers, the number of them, a photo isincluded or it says that blue is forpaper, for example, without listing theirlocation (example, A Coruña). Althoughthis is more information than was givenin 24 other towns, which did not sayanything about the location or contai-ners (69% of the websites, such asMadrid, Gijón, Seville, Marbella,Ourense, Jaén, Salamanca, etc.).

It would be useful to have a map or listwith the collection points for all kinds ofwaste. In Valencia, Albacete, Pamplonaand Malaga the location is given forbatteries, but not for paper (perhaps itis understood that as they are nearbyon the pavement, their location neednot be given). In León, the information

is concise and comprehensive, despitebeing in a text or plan format, which isnot as appealing, but is still useful.

However, the ideal thing for a supportsuch as Internet is to have a tool inwhich you enter your location and thetype of waste you want to dispose ofand that you should come up with a listof the nearest points on a Google map.This is the case in Palma de Mallorcawhich, in its "Where should I throw itaway?" section even shows you how todo so and common mistakes.

What the municipal informationon the website should be likeBasic content: How the waste is collected | Description of the treatment process | Data on the results of waste management | Regulations | How to contact the Town Council | Interesting links

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Updated How the waste is collected

Palma de Mallorca City Council


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The Murcia company also has a "Whatgoes where?" tool, but it is only for kno-wing which container each type ofwaste should go in, not their locationand it is rather confusing to interpretbecause it uses colours to find outwhat container to use when you scrollyour mouse over a kind of waste andidentifies waste with the same colour,which could be confusing (glass andmedications).

- KKnow hhow tto ddeliver tthe wwaste: forpaper, it is important that it should befolded (so that the container can befilled up as much as possible and youare not transporting air), that it shouldbe clean (that it should not haveremains of food, beverage cartons,laminated paper or nappies) and that itshould be placed inside (so as not todirty the surrounding area, ensure thatit is collected and easy to take away). Itis also a good idea to remember that ifyou take the material in plastic bags,the bags should be separated into theplastic packaging, cans and cartonscontainer (yellow), the bag should onlygo in with the paper if it is a paper bag.For batteries, you should only throw thebattery away, not other waste such asplastic or mobile phone batteries orlight bulbs. If there is a different placefor button batteries, this should be cle-arly stated.

We would particularly mention theappealing way A Coruña explains it(with a short video) (3).

Also San Sebastián (although it is noteasy to find and is only for paper)

and Vitoria (not directly on the website,but in PDF format).

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A Coruña City Council

San Sebastián City Council

Vitoria City Council

((33)) http://www.coruna.es/servlet/Satellite?argIdioma=es&c=Page&cid=1348017145467&pagename=Medioambiente%2FPage%2FGenerico-Page-Generica


The general public are part of the firststep in waste management, they handit over, but they are not always aware ofthe evolution of the process and it isimportant because, if they do not knowhow and where the waste is treated, itis logical that any incident in the systemleads to suspicion about the system asa whole and a lack of motivation.

Therefore, the process that the wastefollows after its handing over and thefacilities where it happens should beexplained. Normally, the process iscommon or differs very slightly fromone city to another. However, it is worth-while explaining it to remind the generalpublic why the effort they have madehanding it over where indicated andwhat it will be transformed into areimportant. Nevertheless, it is not muchgood knowing about the process if it isnot contextualised. Identifying thatpaper is selected and is cleaned insuch and such a plant is useful so thatthey see that it is not just a theoreticalexplanation, that the means have beenimplemented so that it happens dayafter day, and it highlights the work ofthe companies dedicated to wastemanagement tasks. If it is also a

nearby company, the general public willfeel that they are part of the manage-ment or group.

A ggood eexplanation aabout ttreatingpaper will identify the company thatcollects the paper from the container,will state that it goes to a recovery plantthat cleans it, classifies it and packetsit in bundles that are later taken to arecycling paper plant, which utilisespaper for recycling to manufacture recy-cled paper reels that are later transfor-med into such and such a product.

Typical recovery companies are CARPA,MAREPA and URBASER and recyclingcompanies would be SAICA PAPER,HOLMER PAPER and others. Town coun-cils sign contracts with waste papermanagement companies and in theconditions they can ask to be kept infor-med about where the paper for recy-cling is sent to be recycled and theresults obtained.

For batteries, we should explain whocollects the content of the containers,which temporary storage centre theyare taken to, which treatment plantthey are then taken to and how the bat-

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- CCalendar/timetable ffor ccollections. Itis particularly worthwhile when thewaste is left in containers on the publicroads (plastic packaging, cans and car-tons, paper, organic matter, etc.), to tryto take the waste out near the collec-tion time and not to leave it unnecessa-rily in the street (possible unpleasantsmells, leaching, theft, etc.). We wouldhighlight how León informs users, as itis concise and visible with the rest ofthe basic information (and it does so,even if it is to say that there are no res-trictions). Albacete and Granada alsogot good scores.

- SSpecial ccollections aaimed aat ccertainsectors oof ccitizens wwho ccould bbe iinte-rested iin pparticipating oor eeven oobligedto ddo sso by a local bylaw (schools,small shops, offices, etc.). For this, thepage should have a short description ofthe service: target users, the routes itcovers, the timetable, how to deliver itand, above all, with an explanation oraccess to a form to fill in to join the ser-vice (form, e-mail, telephone, etc.).

Good examples: León, Granada, ACoruña and Pamplona (the latter dueto the ease in finding it, not for the con-tent).

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Description of the treatment process


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teries are processed. In the same wayas for paper, the town councils signagreements that state the conditions ofthe service and may demand informa-tion about the facilities they operateand the results obtained when signingthe conditions.

Of the pages we consulted, there were14 cities in which we found no informa-tion at all about waste processing. Lessinformation is given about this aspectthan about collecting it and, when infor-mation is given, it usually focuses onthe physical means (containers, lorries,companies responsible, facilities, etc.).If they talk about waste, they focus onthe line of plastic packaging, cans andcartons or other remains (they list thetransfer plants, the landfill work, inclu-ding building waste), but there are veryfew cases in which the processes forother waste, such as paper, were des-cribed. We did not find any website thatinformed about how batteries are pro-cessed, the most they did was identifythe SIG (Integrated Waste ManagementSystem) with which they work, Ecopilas,but there is no information about thespecific processing of this waste or thefacilities where they are recycled, or theplants (on the Ourense website therewas, but you need to look in the"Agenda 21" document where it saysthat they are collected by Urbaser andthat Sogarisa takes them to a securelandfill. What a way of recycling!).

Of the pages that identify the processand/or plants, we would mentionGranada, because it describes the pro-cess used for paper in detail (text withphotos, although it identifies the reco-very company, but not the recyclingcompany). We would also mentionTerrassa and Las Palmas because,although they are not comprehensive,they use appealing infographics withthe life-cycle in which they give someinformation (the Terrassa site says whotransports it, but nothing more; LasPalmas gives the name of the industrialestate where the paper recovery plantis located, but not the name or anymore information). Something similarhappens in Vitoria, which states in atext that there is a privately owned clas-sification plant in Jundiz for papercollected from containers. Albacete andOurense provide little information ontheir websites, but complete, detailedinformation can be found (includingphotos of the recovery company) in thedocument that can be downloaded.

The following only give general information: Cádiz, where they talkabout "national authorised recoverycompanies" for paper, Barcelona in aplain text or Madrid (a schema thatwould be useful for any website).

Paper andcardboard thrown in the blue container

Correct selection and treatment

Obtaining PAPER FORRECYCLING:

new raw materialfor obtaining paper

Recycled paper,cardboard, boxes,new packaging

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Terrassa City Council

Madrid City Council


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Some pages provide links to material ofthe Ecoembes or Ecopilas (ExtendedProducer Responsibility Systems - EPR),but the information is not specificallyfor what happens in each municipalityand does not cover all kinds of waste(for example, Cáceres). Oviedo provideslinks to companies involved in wastemanagement for the municipality, but itdoes not state what each of themreceive, or how they process it or howthe waste gets there.

We found a few examples of websitesthat indicate what the waste has beentransformed into and when they do so,it is usually general, non-contextualisedinformation (León, Madrid, Malaga andCádiz).

Giving data is important so that citizenscan see the results of their collabora-tion, to be convinced of the use of theservice. Separating waste requires anindividual effort and can become"tedious" if we do not see that it istransformed into something positive forsociety as a whole. It also serves theinstitutions by giving them credibilityand transparency, because at the endof the day it is a public service that isused to improve the sustainability ofcities.

They should, as a minimum, informabout:

- TThe qquantity oof wwaste ccollected. 10out of 35 municipal websites visited donot give any information about this data(Jaén, Valladolid, Torrejón, Cádiz, Gijón,Santiago de Compostela, Valencia,Badajoz, Ciudad Real and Elche).

The data should be broken ddown, as aminimum, into materials or fractionscollected (to know whether we recycle alot of or a little paper, the total quanti-ties of waste collected in the municipa-lity or the amount of the waste collec-ted in an Autonomous Community arenot sufficient). It would also be recom-

mendable to separate each of the frac-tions per type of collection (differentiatewhat is collected in the blue containers,from the special collections such asdoor-to-door commercial cardboardcollection service).

Good example: Table with data brokendown by material, type of collection, bymonth and updated (Albacete).

Updated: to get an idea about wherewe stand, data for 2007 or earlier, befo-re the economic crisis, when we wereliving a different kind of reality, are notuseful. San Sebastián is an example ofa city which offers very good informa-tion but from 2007.

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Data on the results of the waste management

León City Council

Albacete City Council


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But it is not the only one displayingobsolete data, Cáceres, Santander andPalma de Mallorca have data from2006; Ourense and Murcia from2005; whilst Malaga y Albacete providerecent data from 2013.

The most recent data should be shownnext to the preceding data as the mostmain interest is to see the evolution. Inthe digital area, there are some munici-palities able to inform about collectionsin the previous months (see Albacetetable), but others only collect the datain the form of a one-off informativeflash (the case of Gijón) and there wasa complete lack of interest found onthe Santiago de Compostela page,where they did not even bother to com-pile them and directly uploaded thetext that follows which we found to beindignant:

It is advisable that the ratios achievedare represented accompanied by areference value that encourages animprovement in participation, greaterinvolvement, that can be an objectiveset on a local scale, the value of thecurrent regulation, or the averagecollection levels during the same periodof time for the region or for the country.

In a space of its own, that is easy ttofind. It would be logical for it to befound in the waste section, but someti-mes people are referred to other partsof the town council or company website(for example in Las Palmas you need togo to the Observatory, in Barcelona youwill find it in City Figures, in Santanderin an article in the six monthly magazi-ne, in Logroño in news flashes, inOurense in the Agenda 21 report, inMarbella in the annual managementreport of the company that handles it,etc.).

In a format that is easy to understand.We already mentioned in the generalpart that cities such as Palma deMallorca give information in plain textand this is not easy to digester, itshould at least be presented in tablesor, bbetter sstill, aas aa bbar cchart.

The omissions or contradictions foundwere curious, such as the case ofMurcia and Seville, because they giveinformation on the kilos collected andthe total number of containers for allkinds of waste, yet for batteries, theyonly give the number of containers andnot the kilos. It says where they arecollected, but not how much.

- EEnvironmental aadvantages oof ccorrectmanagement. We feel it is correct thatdata should be given about the bene-fits of recycling, but they should bebased oon rrigorous sstudies, in otherwords, the information should be veri-fiable or based on previous technicalstudies, not on vague estimations ortheoretical statements.

Our attention was caught by the dispa-rity and the number of environmentaladvantages that were announced onthe pages we visited, including the pre-cision with which the savings were sta-ted, but we were only able to checkthat there were studies for paper withregard to:

Reduction oof tthe sspace ttaken iin llandfillsites: 70 kg of paper for recyclingwould occupy 1 m3 (we could say thatfor every 700 kg of paper we save thespace of a car, or that for every100,000 tonnes of paper, we wouldsave the space of a large football sta-dium).

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León City Council

Recycling and waste managementIt is complicated to provide conclusive infor-mation about the percentage that each kindof waste represents of all the waste genera-ted in Santiago.

Santiago de Compostela City Council


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Some town councils, such as Malaga,talk about "minimisation of the econo-mic impact of the importation ofpaper" and it is not clear what they

are referring to or what this informa-tion is based on.

Only Oviedo talks about the emissionsprevented and the space in the landfillsites correctly. However, most of themmixed the statements with cuts andsaving in water and energy.

With regard to batteries, we wouldhighlight the way that Santander crea-tes awareness about the environmen-tal advantages of collecting them. It isa pity that this is not directly on thewebsite, but is in PDF format).

We were surprised by the precisionwith which the level of contaminationof a battery was determined on websi-tes such as that of Vitoria (in terms ofswimming pools) and that of Albacete(water drunk by family, see lowerexample). We have not been able todetect studies on which this informa-tion was based.

Did you know that�By recycling 1,000 kg of paper we prevent15 trees from being cut down. This meansthat with the kilos of paper and cardboardrecovered every week in Zaragoza, morethan 4,000 trees are "saved".

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Murcia City Council

Zaragoza City Council

Santander City Council

Prevented eemissions: For every kilo ofpaper we recycle, we prevent the emis-sion in the landfill site of 900 g of CO2(we could say that for every 150 kgrecycled, we save the omissions of one800-km trip by car)

Increase tthe uuseful llife oof ppaper, oorimprove tthe uuse oof tthe rresource:Cellulose fibre can be recycled up to 7times.

However, we have found many citieswhich talk about and give figures forsaving water and energy (Malaga,Albacete, Cádiz, Zaragoza, Santanderand Barcelona), but the consumptiondepends on the productive process ofeach factory and not on whether theyuse virgin or recovered fibre (we havenot found data on savings for usingmore recycled fibre in the process).

It is also very frequent to refer tosaving trees and preventing cuttingthem (Malaga, Cádiz, Santander,Zaragoza, Murcia, Albacete) and it iisnot ttrue tthat bby rrecycling wwe ssavetrees as the cellulose fibre with whichpaper and cardboard are made comefrom trees that are planted and grownfor this purpose (the ones that arerequired are planted, there is no nega-tive balance and it is even less truethat it is exactly 15 trees per tonne ofrecycled paper)


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All tthe eenvironmental aadvantagesshould bbe ccontextualised. We do notoffer the same information nor do wehave the same strength of argument ifwe say that:

than if we precise the same concept inthe following way:

The ideal thing would be to transformthis data into space saved and emis-sions prevented based on the numberof kilos recovered in the city every weekor every month, but we found no exam-ples of this.

To get to know how waste managementis regulated in the municipality, it is agood idea to have the waste bbylaw athand, sometimes also known as clea-ning, various cleaning or similar. Thiscontains important, useful aspects forcitizens (above all when it comes tocomplaining) such as rights (servicesavailable, timetables, etc.) and the obli-gations or infractions that uncivil beha-viour can involve.

Almost all the municipalities have thedocument on the website, generally inPDF format, although often it is notfound next to the rest of the informa-tion about waste, but is in another part(section on regulations on the websitehomepage, etc.). We have mentionedin this report that, up to a certain point,we can justify finding it grouped withthe rest of the municipal regulations ina single section, but there is no sensehaving to go to thematic sections suchas Public Health or other similar ones.When the town council has contractedthe Green Line service (see explanationof the service in the "How to contactthem" section) the information is some-times more accessible and clearer. Wecould not find the local regulations forthe town councils of Tarragona orBadajoz nor on others sites on whichthe information is given on the commu-

For every tonne of paper recycled we prevent cutting a large number of trees andwe save large amounts of water and energy.In addition, we prevent paper from beingburnt: a ton of burnt paper can emit CO2 insimilar quantities to half a ton of petrol.

By recycling paper and cardboard we decrease contamination by reducing spacein landfill sites (70 kg of recycled paper areequivalent to 1m3) and reduce the emissionsof CO2 at the landfill site (for every kilo ofpaper and cardboard we collect for recycling, we prevent the emission of 900 gof CO2 in a landfill site).

nity website or that of the concessionai-re company (the case of Marbella,Pamplona, San Sebastián, Cáceres,etc.) meaning that one would have toleave the town council website just toaccess it.The problem is that it is not alwaysaccessible. For example, the bylaws inPalma de Mallorca can be downloadedfrom the website of the town council inthe Regulations section or in that ofEMAYA, but it is so hidden that we hadto be guided by the EMAYA techniciansover the phone to be able to find it(4).

Example of pages with accessible regulations can be found in LasPalmas, Ciudad Real and Madrid, with a banner or permanent button throughout the search.

Other interesting information for citi-zens would be:

The autonomous region, national orEuropean regulations on waste, aswell as the Management Plans forsolid urban waste. To give the resultsand objectives in context.

Service regulations or dossier of services contracted with respect towaste.

((44)) http://www.emaya.es/portal/page?_pageid=53,16188&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

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Regulations

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Oviedo City Council


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Citizen participation should be maintai-ned over time and it is impossible topredict all the doubts and complaintsthat may arise on a daily basis.Therefore, it is important to leave openthe possibility that visitors who may notfind the solution to their answers or theinformation that they require may con-tact the town council or responsiblecompany and be attended. If citizensare demotivated, they will stop partici-pating actively in the system, and theirrole is essential.

Therefore it is worthwhile giving at leastone form of contact (an e-mail address,a Citizen Service telephone number,postal address, fax number, etc.).However the ideal solution is to offerseveral options to make sure that theirqueries can be dealt with. The veryleast that can be provided on a websiteis an e-mail address, but the ideal ans-wer would be to offer a web option anda telephone number and to make sureit is sufficiently visible.

Barcelona gives such importance tothis matter that it has introduced theneed to provide two forms of contact(telephone number and website) ascompulsory in all the town councilpublications.

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How to contact the Town Council

Ayuntamiento de Barcelona

The dossier of services contracted isthe contract document with the com-pany that will collect the waste (if it isprivate, because if it is public there isno public bidding and there is no con-tract) where you can find informationabout the conditions of the work agre-ed on. This is desirable informationbecause it offers transparency to themanagement and is also where thecompulsory nature of providing datacan be reflected if the town council hasrequested it. We could not find thiseasily on any of the pages consulted,on some sites, such as that ofZaragoza, it was hidden in the "Profileof the Contractor" section and we hadto search among all the contracts (5)

In Vitoria, we saw the Regulation of thewaste construction plant, the compos-ting plant and the exploitation of the"garbigune" (the Recycling Centre)

(5) https://www.zaragoza.es/ciudad/gestionmunicipal/contratos/ayto/ver_Fehaciente?id=25004

It is also easy to find in San Sebastián,because there is a static tab on theright with the telephone number and e-mail address. In Granada all the possi-bilities are given (telephone number,fax number, e-mail address, etc.) andthey are given on all the pages relatingto waste.

However, on other websites it would becomplicated or there are few alternati-ves, for example in Badajoz a telepho-ne number is only given on the websiteof the company, FCC, and it is a 900telephone number; in Valencia, Sevilleand Santiago there is only the generalinformation telephone number, 010.

In Oviedo, they have activated a specialsystem to deal with incidents, but as itis for the entire town council, you needto know where it is. In the waste sec-tion there is no reference to it (wefound out about it after talking to thoseresponsible for waste).


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Some municipalities, aware of theimportance of Citizen Service andof the limited resources they have,have decided to contract a servicecalled Green Line that offers thepossibility of dealing with environ-mental queries with a limited time-table (before 24.00) individuallyand free of charge, at the sametime as providing information aboutenvironmental matters, one ofwhich is waste. This is neither bet-ter nor worse, it is an option, whichis particularly interesting for placeswith limited management capacity(small and medium).

Of the cities we checked, we foundthe service in five of them (Gijón,Santander, Murcia, Malaga andSegovia) although on the websiteof the company it shows thatSeville and Cáceres are also regis-tered, but there is no mention ofthis on their municipal websites.

We verified that they do not alloffer the same information. Forexample in Gijón and Murcia youneed to be registered to access thewaste information, which seemedvery demotivating to us, while inSegovia they are open to anyonewho is interested. Everythingdepends on the contract that theauthorities have signed.

This is not bad, but it is still a servi-ce with an expiry date; some townssuch as Segovia told us that theyonly have it for sure this year. Insome of them, it is not sufficientlyvisible (in the website of Murciatown Council you are referred tothe managing company for data onwaste and nothing is mentionedabout the Green Line, the link isonly given in a side button whichwe missed during fieldwork).

Sometimes it is a shame that thereis more information in this externalchannel than on the town councilwebsite (for example in Malaga, asis the case with the map of thecollection points).

i http://www.lineaverdemunicipal.com

It is interesting to provide links to companies related to waste in themunicipality, either companies thatmanage waste directly (FCC, ROSROCA, TRAPEROS EMAUS, URBASER,etc.) or the EPR Systems with whichyou have agreements (ECOEMBES,ECOPILAS etc.). However, initiativesfocusing on creating awareness areparticularly worthwhile (Zaragoza'sUrban Environment Classroom) or preventing waste by means of exchange, places for repairing (SanSebastián) or for donating ("I don'tthrow it away" campaign in Pamplona).

Sometimes it is hard to find the section, as is the case in Las Palmaswhich has a section with a lot of information in the Information andCitizen Services section. If you manageto find it, it is very comprehensive (6).Another page with a lot of links isVitoria.

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Interesting links

(6) http://www.laspalmasgc.es/views/Servicios/LimpiezayReciclaje/Ciudadano/EnlacesdeInteres.jsp


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Conclusions

Half the municipal websites visiteddid not pass the test (only 16 out of25 were acceptable, 46%), meaningthat there iis aa llong wway tto ggo iinimproving iinformation aabout wwaste oonmunicipal wwebsites. Only three citiesgot a good score: Granada, Albaceteand León. The others merely passedthe test.

About ccollection: this is essential infor-mation and more than half the websi-tes failed in this area (22 out of 35, or63%). What is worse was that sixcities do not give any informationabout how or where the waste iscollected. There are good examples inseven cities, distributed both in thenorth as well as the south, both largeas well as small cities (León,Granada, Pamplona, Albacete, Vitoria,Tarragona and Palma de Mallorca).About processing: this is the sectiongiven the worst score, in other words,the section with the least comprehen-sive information that most needsimproving. Only four cities passed andwe did not find a single comprehensi-ve example. In this way it is impossi-ble to give the system transparencyand credibility.

About ddata: 17 cities (half) failed bynot giving information, being out ofdate or talking about environmental

advantages that are not the case.Good examples were found forAlbacete and León.

About rregulations: almost all the web-sites offered access to this informa-tion, although it was not always easyto find. In many of them, we neededto use search engines or general sec-tions of the town council. Thereshould be access from the sections inwhich the rest of the informationabout waste is given, whether theyare concessionaire companies or thetown council itself and the generalregulation should be accompanied bythe dossier of service conditions.

About ccontacting tthem: in almost allcases the town council could be con-tacted, but not all the pages madethis easy and in many cases one hadto use the general contact to the towncouncil. Some town councils have out-sourced this service to the Green Lineinitiative.

The final scores can be consulted inthe study dossier on the OCUi websi-te, where you will also find links to thepages that contain most of the infor-mation found. The exception is Elche,as it does not have data in the tablebecause no information was given.

i http://www.ocu.org/consumo-familia/nc/informe/informacion-residuos-ayuntamientos


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Recommendations

So that information on paper waste on municipal websites helps to achieve,maintain and improve recycling objectives, the OCU report indicates that thefollowing characteristics should be found:

Easily accessible, grouped and structured

Clear, understandable language and in all the official languages of themunicipality, as well as in English in tourist areas or in other languageswhen there is a significant immigrant population

Appealing, visually attractive (examples, images, graphics, infographics, etc.)

Updated

Sufficient in basic aspects

How the information should be presented


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WASTE COLLECTION: type of containers and location (map), how to deliver or deposit the waste (folded, without a plasticbag, inside the container), how the special waste collection services work (for example, door to door for cardboard fromsmall shops or schools or offices), timetable and frequency of collections, changes in the services, etc.

PROCESS AND TREATMENT of the waste collected until its final destination.

A good explanation about treating paper, as given in the report, will identify the company that collects thepaper from the container, will state that it goes to a recovery plant that cleans it, classifies it and packets itin bundles that are later taken to a recycling paper plant which utilises this paper for recycling to manufacture recycled paper reels that are later transformed into different products.

INFORMATION which should be updated, about the amount of waste collected, broken down by material and collectionservice (blue container, commercial door to door, etc.) and information about the benefits of recycling based on seriousstudies.

To promote and facilitate the collaboration of users it is important, according to the OCU, that those respon-sible in the town council inform about the results of citizen participation.

It is a good idea to inform about the benefits of recycling and to provide environmental information but, accor-ding to the report, only if it is based on verified studies such as emissions or the space in landfill sites.

MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS on waste management: it is a good idea to offer the local bylaws on waste and other regulationsof a wider scope.

CONTACT for citizens who wish to consult questions by phone or by e-mail that is sufficiently visible on the website, links tocompanies related to waste in the municipality and other pages of interest and initiatives focusing on creating awareness.

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Five key contents


Published by OCU - Organisation of Consumers and Users C/ Albarracín, 21. 28037 Madrid. www.ocu.org

Published in July 2014

This report belongs to OCU and its publishing company OCU EDICIONES. Unless expressly authorised by OCU and/or its publishing company,OCU EDICIONES, any kind of reproduction, transmission, adaptation, translation, modification, communication to the public, for profit ornon-profit uses, or any other exploitation of all or part of the content of this report, by any means, whether electronic, mechanical or other,is expressly forbidden.

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OUR VALUES OCU is an independent, non-profit consumer organisation which has the aim of defen-ding consumers' rights and improving the quality of life of its members by offering use-ful, transparent information and services that improve decision-making in the area ofconsumption.

We would like to contribute to constructing a society in which consumers can carry outtheir rights freely and are protected against industry abuses. A more sustainable society,promoting consumer habits and helping consumers to make the most suitable deci-sions for them and their environment.

We believe in dialogue, in truthful information, in transparency and in the power of con-sumer decisions as a driving force behind social progress.

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the quality of municipal information on waste

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