Santa Pola town hall has been bursting with pride to show off the latest improvement to urban services, new and much bigger street dustbins.
Along with the contractor Urbaser, the different dustbin models that will make up the new recycling islands in Santa Pola, and which are already being manufactured, where revealed to show off what the future holds. The first units are expected to be received in less than a month and they will be installed progressively by area. A new model for organic waste is incorporated.
The Santa Pola Council, through the Cleaning Department headed by Encarni Ramírez, has presented the container model that the concessionaire company of the new contract for the next ten years, Urbaser, will use to renew all the current containers. Manufactured in Alicante, with side loading and rounded shapes, low maintenance and high functionality, to make it easier for citizens to deposit waste.
There will be four types of selective container. Those chosen to collect packaging, paper and cardboard and other waste have a capacity of 3,000 litres, while the organic one, which is incorporated as a novelty, can hold a maximum of 2,000 litres. Although they may seem smaller in appearance, they have greater capacity than the current ones because they are wider and lower, and with this type of lid they can be filled to the top.
The Science Bit…
They are made entirely of linear high-density polyethylene by rotomolding, 100% recyclable and with a modern design that facilitates total integration into any environment. They comply with accessibility regulations and the user pours the waste into the container through the loading lid for selective and organic waste, and in the rest container they can choose to lift the lid manually or operate the pedal.
With the homogeneous island of containers of the different fractions, it is possible to generate an accessible and clearly identified space for the collection of waste on public roads, promoting selective collection.
The yellow container is intended for packaging and in it you can place plastic bags and bottles, tetrabriks, drink cans or aluminium foil.
The novelty is the lid that opens inwards and anyone pushes it with the bag and lets it fall without any contact with the container. It is an innovative and unique system in the entire area that also allows you to avoid the leaks that occur in the old containers.
The blue container will collect paper and cardboard: newspaper and magazines, sheets of paper, clean cardboard or paper bags.
It has the same mouth system with a narrower, folding lid, which prevents large boxes from being deposited without folding, because when they are placed whole it takes up a lot of space and capacity is lost.
The brown bin that we are going to find on the street and it is new, because there was none until now in Santa Pola and it will only be for food scraps, that is why it is somewhat smaller than the others.
Everything else goes in the grey bin, the one that we would usually find and would collect everything that does not fit in the rest of the selective containers, except for belongings, pruning or appliances, which would have to go to the ecopark.
This one is different from the rest because it incorporates a pedal and a lid that can be raised manually, although much smaller than the current ones. It is a more reliable pedal than the current ones, more robust and will generate many fewer incidents due to breakage.
Once the Council chose between the different proposals, the factory ordered almost a thousand containers to cover the entire municipality and it is expected to have the first units at the end of March or the beginning of April. Delivery will be gradual, and they will be distributed by areas and replacing the old ones, with the aim of having practically all of them before the summer. In addition, stock will be available to quickly replace any that may spoil.
So, very shortly, other municipalities and their residents will just have to look in awe towards Santa Pola and their improved rubbish system.
