Reward system aims at getting people to recycle better

A new initiative is underway in northern Catalonia designed at motivating people to care more for the environment. The local council of Pallars Sobirà, sharing a border with France and Andorra, will reward the 100 households in the region which are the best recyclers.

The campaign ‘Doing it well has a reward’ kicked off this week, and will be giving out gift vouchers for a lunch or dinner, and even passes for the adventure park at Port Ainé ski resort. The aim is to better improve the quality of service, as well as boosting citizen participation in selective rubbish collection, and reducing the misuse of bags and bins.

Two years ago, a door-to-door collection service for glass, paper, packaging, and organic waste was set up through nearly all of the mountainous region. This change in model saw a dramatic increase in the amount of people recycling, from 28% to 60% in the towns where the door-to-door service is in operation.

“It’s an ongoing project,” explained Carles Isús, council president of the area. "It won’t start and finish in a year. It’s a project that, in ten years’ time, will still be improving,” he said.

According to Isús, even some of the bigger waste producers in the area are getting involved. Ski resorts and restaurants, for example, have also signed up for the collection service.

Environmentally challenging

A total of eight environmental educators will be deployed throughout Pallars Sobirà in order to carry out questionnaires of the service. Marc Sans, an environmental technician for the council, stated that one objective of the campaign is to “correct bad habits.”

“One of the hardest things if ensuring that people make use of the bins correctly,” Sans said.

The programme includes various aims in order to improve waste collection. Among these challenges are; attempt to stop people throwing garbage bags in bins, to make people pick up bins in the street once they are empty, and for residents to take a few minutes of their day in order to convince others to use the service.

One other pending issue is that of convincing owners of second homes in Pallars Sobirà to throw out their rubbish in emergency areas.

Ultimately the campaign wants to have 60% of people in Pallars Sobirà recycling well, thus hitting European objectives.