Sacyr Environment carries out the street cleaning and waste collection tasks in Soria, Lleida and Cádiz, cities that have received the highest distinction, "Three Blue Bow Ties"; and San Fernando de Henares that obtained "Two Blue Bow Ties" from the awards granted by the Spanish Association of Pulp, Paper and Cardboard Manufacturers (ASPAPEL) to the cities that "recycle paper and cardboard the most and in the best way possible”. This program is recognized by the European Paper Recycling Prize.
In 2019 forty organizations have been awarded these prizes whose highest distinction are the three 'bow ties' that distinguish Cádiz, Lleida and Soria alongside other 17 cities and groups of municipalities.
The City of Soria is awarded, for the second year in a row, the highest distinction in terms of recycling and selective collection of paper, which reached 1.13 tons of cardboard collected in 2018. The Councilor for Social Action, Cooperation and Equality and the Environment and Urban Sustainability area, Ana Alegre, received the award.
The Councilor for the Environment of Cádiz, Álvaro de la Fuente, who received the award, said: “In 2018 we have increased the amount of cardboard collected by 4%, which is undoubtedly thanks to the result of the proper functioning of the service and the workforce and also of the impact of awareness campaigns and citizen collaboration and the Cadiz trade fabric when it comes to separating this type of waste ".
In Lleida, Sacyr Environment carries out the cleaning and collection tasks in a joint venture with Romero Polo. This city has been awarded the distinction for the third year in a row. The city has implemented different initiatives included in the global project "Lleida en Verde", such as the implementation of 500 new islands of selective collection dumpsters and the implementation of commercial door-to-door collection, among others. In the Ciutat Jardí and Vila Montcada neighborhoods, 86% of the waste has been recycled in the three months of operation of the door-to-door waste collection system. The councilor of Rural Habitat and Sustainability of Lleida, Joan Queralt, received the award.
Among the improvements implemented by these cities in collaboration with the companies that provide the service, the following are included: information campaigns aimed at citizens to improve their waste separation habits; adaptation of dumpsters with closures and openings, which prevent the disposal of improper materials while making paper and cardboard theft difficult; recovery of door-to-door services for small businesses and complementary selective collections in schools, municipal markets and public offices, which had been reduced or had disappeared with the crisis, and control and monitoring of improper activities.
Blue bow ties
Blue Bow Ties is a program carried out annually by ASPAPEL for the advice, assessment and recognition of the quality of municipal management in selective collection for the recycling of paper and cardboard, focused on continuous improvement.
The assessment is based on 21 indicators, which are arranged according to established scales and analyze all matters related to the collection of the blue dumpster and complementary collections, campaigns and information actions and citizen awareness, aspects related to regulation and planning of the management and results and traceability until final recycling.
The local entities that each year stand out by their excellence are awarded one, two or three Blue Bow Ties, according to an objective scale and based on the results obtained in the assessment.
The annual assessment of each municipality or group of municipalities is accompanied by technical advice with recommendations for improvement. And depending on their results in the successive annual editions of the Blue Bow Ties award, the local entities maintain, increase or lose the number of bow ties obtained the previous year.
