Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia - Diputación Foral de Bizkaia

Garbiker: High Environmental Performance

Appropriate treatment of urban waste is particularly relevant in the environmental policy of Bizkaia and in the management conducted by the Regional Council.

The “Integral Urban Solid Waste Management Plan in the Historic Territory of Bizkaia 1997-2001” was a key instrument, covering several actions fully identified with the European policy on urban solid waste.

At the close of this period, the Regional Council started up a revision process on this Plan, leading to a document entitled “Second Phase of the Integral Urban Solid Waste Management Plan in the Historic Territory of Bizkaia 2002-2007”.

In 2003, new information was compiled on the management of what is now called Urban Waste, proceeding to draw up a proposal for a new Urban Waste Management Plan, giving rise to a new study document known as the “Integral Urban Solid Waste Management Plan in Bizkaia 2005-2016”.

The objective of this new Plan is to ensure that the future management of waste gives people a quality service, with a more homogenous, as low a cost as possible, throughout the Historic Territory of Bizkaia, with the maximum levels of environmental protection, allowing for compliance with the requirements of the regulations in force and with the principles of sustainable development.

The new Integral Urban Solid Waste Management Plan in Bizkaia describes the strategic principles on which its actions are grounded:

- Sustainable Management of the resources
- Community hierarchy management
   o Prevention
   o Material or energetic evaluation
   o Disposal
- Integrated management
- Prevention of generating
- Maximization of the evaluation
- Minimization of dumping
- Self-sufficiency
- Proximity
- Administrative subsidiarity
- Shared responsibility
- Transparent pricing
- Transparent information

The public company Garbiker plays a vital, instrumental role in developing the highly substantial aspects of this Plan.