Until 2004, the Catalan town of Argentona, 12 000 inhabitants, recycled less than 20% of its waste, incinerating most of it. When the local incinerator reached saturation, Argentona seized the opportunity to change systems and implement a Zero Waste strategy, especially through door-to-door collection and a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system.
This experience is great testimony of the Zero Waste approach being an opportunity available to any community, and which inspired other Catalan municipalities to follow the same path, due to convincing results:
-    Doubled recycling rates, up to 68,5% in 2012
-    Tripled jobs and enhanced social inclusion along with stronger environmental awareness of inhabitants
-    35 000 euros of annual savings
-    15% decrease of residual waste

This is why the Agency for Sustainable Mediterranean Cities and Territories (AViTeM) and the MED-InA project partners offer you a synthetic and documented guidebook to implement a Zero Waste strategy at municipal level!

Designed by Zero Waste Europe experts, this guide is a decision-making support tool adapted to the context of Mediterranean cities, which presents the Zero Waste approach before giving an overview of the context of waste management in the Mediterranean as well as case studies in Mediterranean municipalities. In its second part, the guide lists 10 fields of questions that should enable decision-makers to identify their needs, before providing specific tools and steps to follow to set up an adapted zero waste strategy.

The guidebook is downloadable in French, English, Arabic and Spanish versions.