Client
The Waste Agency of Catalonia is a public company run by the Government of Catalonia which promotes the prevention and preparation for reuse, recycling, planning and proper management of waste generated in the Catalan territory.
Challenge
Quantifying the carbon footprint of the management (transport and treatment) of the municipal waste in Catalonia, from its generation to its final treatment.
What was done?
Since 2012, together with the Waste Agency of Catalonia and the Catalan Office for Climate Change, we have prepared the annual report showing the calculations of the greenhouse gas emissions generated and avoided through municipal waste management. This serves as a useful instrument for planning and decision-making aimed at mitigating climate change.
The results are presented for both the municipalities as well as the comarcas (larger areas within the provinces) they belong to and allow for a global vision of the entire waste management system. This facilitates the definition of strategies and policies of the Waste Agency of Catalonia.
Results
10
Consecutive years drawing up the report.
947
Municipalities involved.
38%
Reduction of the total carbon footprint balance between 2012 and 2020.
Conclusions
Municipal waste management and treatment contributes significantly to global warming For this reason, it is important that municipalities and other entities responsible for municipal waste management have metrics available that allow them to find out the variation of their footprint based on the applied policies, such as preventing the generation of waste, increasing selective collection ratios and reducing inappropriate waste, as well as reducing the amount of waste going directly to a controlled deposit site.
All the cases