Montcada i Reixac City Council (Barcelona) has awarded the new contract for the municipality's waste collection and transport and street cleansing to FCC Medio Ambiente. The contract is worth €41 million over the next eight years and represents a renewal of the city's trust in the company, which has been providing uninterrupted service since 2004.

One of the initial challenges of the contract is to adapt and ensure the coexistence of the proposed service with the profound urban transformation that the municipality is undergoing as a result of the works to bury the railway lines that run through it. In this new phase for the city, located in the Barcelona metropolitan area and with a population of around 40,000, the company has 50 employees and focuses its activities on two pillars: technological innovation and environmental sustainability. 

On the one hand, the company will promote the use of the VISION digital platform, developed exclusively by FCC Medio Ambiente, which enables real-time interaction with incidents, requests from residents and the municipal team, and will make the most of the resources offered by all its modules. In addition, all teams will be equipped with GPS systems and ICT elements that will allow for full traceability of tasks. On the other hand, the company and the City Council are demonstrating their commitment to sustainability by ensuring that a large part of the service fleet will be 100% electric and by increasing the percentage of selective collection, with the aim of exceeding 55% compared to the current 37%. To this end, new City Next model containers with closure systems for residual waste, organic waste and packaging will be introduced, which can be opened by users through identification and control systems. 

For the waste collection service, which covers over 13,500 tonnes per year, all vehicles will be newly purchased, including bilateral and rear-loading vehicles with two compartments, as well as electric ancillary vehicles such as open-body vehicles with high-pressure hydrocleaning equipment. The main change is the switch from the current side-loading and underground loading system to a bilateral loading system. 

As for the street cleansing service, the entire fleet will be newly acquired and 75% of the vehicles will be fully electric, including suction and drag sweepers of different capacities, open-bed dump trucks, and open-bed ancillary vehicles. It is worth noting the creation of eight new direct jobs, which will enable a more comprehensive and higher quality service to be offered, especially in neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the urban centre.

Social sustainability is another fundamental pillar of the new contract and aims to further increase the percentage of women in the workforce, currently at 25%, as well as to launch various information and awareness campaigns to promote the importance of selective collection and the use of the new containers. Specifically, an initial campaign will be carried out during the pre-implementation and post-implementation phases of the closed containers, as well as regular annual follow-up campaigns.