The Waste Agency of Catalonia disseminates today a series of ads to promote the selective collection of food and vegetable waste, what is called ‘organic’. Currently, only 30% of the organic produced at home is collected selectively, because a high percentage still gets mixed up with other waste to landfill.
The Waste Agency of Catalonia (ARC) began last Monday a new communication campaign for the promotion of selective collection of organic waste (FORM), with the slogan: “ Si hi va, bé. Si no hi va, no ve” (If it goes there, okay. If it does not go, it doesn’t come back). The campaign focuses on the importance of separating conveniently food and small vegetables remains (small-sized vegetables – leaves, lawns or branches) and shows very visually the advantages of recycling it. When the organic waste goes to the brown container, we help recycling.
The visual exposes the idea of the cycle of organic matter, which can be fully valued. Recycling it enables saving of resources -transforming the organic matter into a compound to fertilize the soil and reducing the biodegradable waste in controlled landfills and incineration plants. Moreover, it reduces the emission of grennhouse gases. In addition, electricity can be produced with the biogas obtained from its fermentation, .
Online presence
Apart from being presented in the most traditional channels – television, radio and the paper press -, the campaign will also circulate online, through four videos explaining what is organic, what is converted, and what benefits it creates, as well as the consequences of not separating well. It will appear on twitter and Instagram, where you will be invited to share the content through the tag #sihivabé. In addition, a webapp will offer the possibility of creating compositions alike those of the ads, among all compositions created, the most original ones will be rewarded.
The campaign, which has a budget of about two million euros, is fully financed by the ARC. It will be disseminated during three weeks, and has a specific advertisement in TV3 (the most popular local TV).
Collection, stagnant
The organic fraction is the most important fraction of municipal waste, with 36% by weight. The quantity we selectively collect represents currently 30% of the organic waste generated and 10% of total municipal waste. The latest available data, corresponding to the year 2016, indicates that raw selective collection of organic waste was 371,697 tonnes – 0.24% lower than 2015-, which is quite stagnant since 2012. The objective is that by 2020, 60% by weight of organic waste will be recycled.
Organic collection service is currently provided by 781 Catalan municipalities, 136 of which do so through a selective door-to-door collection.
