Recycling mini houses in Valdizarbe

By project WEEEWaste

Published on 16 December 2024

Spain

Comunidad Foral de Navarra

Obanos

About this good practice

The Commonwealth of Valdizarbe has 11,602 inhabitants (2023) distributed among 11 municipalities. In 4 of them (Obanos, Miranda de Arga, Mendigorria and Artajona), the population has a collection service for small WEEE (and other small devices) which is avalaible 24/7 through recycling mini houses property of the Commonwealth of Valdizarbe.

In 2023, the following WEEE were collected among these 4 recycling mini houses:
- 3,545 WEEE
- 2,189 fluorescent/bulbs
- 50 mobile phones
- 79 mobile batteries
- 83 mobile chargers
- 13 computing devices
- 89 toners

The maintenance of the mini houses and the collection of the waste deposited in them, thanks to a public tender, are carried out by Ekogras company, which is an used oil manager (motor oil is another waste that can be deposited in the mini houses). However, in the case of WEEE, it acts as a carrier taking them to the Traperos de Emaus’ facilities (Preparation for Reuse and Recycling Center).

Due to the success of the first mini house in Obanos, they implemented the other 3 more in Miranda de Arga, Mendigorria and Artajona.

Besides, the Commonwealth of Valdizarbe complements this collection service with the following ones:
- On demand Door-to-Door collection service for bulky items and WEEE by Traperos de Emaús
- 2 fixed clean points in Puente la Reina y Larraga (opened on Thrusdays, Tuesdays and Saturdays)
- Recycling bus for small WEEE every 2 months in 3 other municipalities (Berbinzana, Mañeru and Cirauqui)

Resources needed

Each house had a cost of €13,300 + VAT, later financed by the Waste Consortium of Navarra (public entity). They are located on public land, so occupation of soil has no cost. The contract with Ekogras includes more services, so it has not been possible to disaggregate the economic information.

Evidence of success

It is difficult to know if WEEE collection improved with the installation of the mini houses, since other additional improvements coincided in time (eg. opening of a fix clean point). In addition, there were other services in operation.
However, evidence of success can be described through these advantages:
- Convenience 24-7 to 4,795 inhabitants
- Citizens involvement, they report any issue in the facility to the local entity for a good functioning
- Replicated in other areas: 11 local entities

Potential for learning or transfer

This system provides coverage for the collection of small WEEE in rural areas. Although it is true that the devices may suffer some damage due to falling into the container located inside the mini houses, which can make preparation for reuse and recycling difficult in some cases, the depth of the container is not too big and most items arrive to the preparation for reuse centre in good conditions.

In the other hand, citizens are happy with this service as it is really convenient and available any time they need to use it.

The Commonwealth of Valdizarbe was a pioneer in Navarra in betting on these recycling mini houses, which nowadays can already be found in other 11 local waste entities of Navarra: Bortziriak, Baztan, Malerreka, Esca-Salazar, Comarca de Pamplona, Sangüesa, Bidausi, Mendialdea, Sakana, Mairaga and Montejurra with a total of 39 new mini houses. 43 in the whole of the region of Navarra, adding the four of the Commonwealth of Valdizarbe.