The Conselh Generau d'Aran (Aran General Council) has awarded FCC Medio Ambiente the new waste collection contract for the Val d'Aran county. The contract portfolio amounts to €23.7 million for the next eight years, with a possible two-year extension.

The contract seeks to modernise the service and adapt it to the real needs of the area, which until now has been provided by collecting waste in containers, without differentiating between household and commercial waste. This, together with the high seasonal nature of the area and due to the activation of the tourist sector at certain times of the year, caused major problems of overflows in containers. With the new service, the commercial collection will be carried out door-to-door, so that it will be separated from the household collection, thus giving a more precise knowledge of the waste production of the different businesses and areas.

To provide the new service to the 9 municipalities and 40 population centres that make up the region and to collect the more than 8,220 tonnes of waste generated per year, there will be a staff of 22 people and 16 newly acquired vehicles and machines. These include four two-axle and three-axle bi-compartment collectors, all of them with four-wheel drive to be able to work in the geographical and climatic characteristics of the area, as well as a plug-in hybrid inspection vehicle with a Zero Emissions label and a hydro-cleaning van.

In line with the commitment of the Conselh Generau d'Aran and FCC Medio Ambiente to sustainability and care for the environment, the energy efficiency of the facilities will be improved, with control and regulation systems, low-consumption lamps and appliances with LED technology, and water consumption will be reduced by using water flow reduction systems, automated controllers and timers.

As for the technological innovation of the new contract, the service will be organised and monitored through VISION, a digital platform for integrated management developed exclusively by the company, which enables real-time interaction with service incidents, requests from residents and the municipal team. The current vehicles are fitted with GPS positioning systems, and those to be acquired will also incorporate weighing and TAGS management systems. In addition, volumetric sensors will be installed on those islands which, due to their location, are far from the usual route to avoid unnecessary journeys and reduce vehicle consumption. 

In order to involve residents in caring for their city, the service will have a person dedicated exclusively to dissemination, awareness-raising and information campaigns on how the door-to-door service works and other environmental issues. The contract also aims to be more inclusive and seeks to increase the gender diversity of the workforce.