FCC has recovered this contract, having previously led a JV with other companies to provide the first solid urban wastes service in this area from 2005 until December 2009.

Lea-Artibai has a population of 24,457 and lies in the north-eastern part of the area at the border with the province of Guipúzcoa and the areas of Busturialdea-Urdaibai and Duranguesado. The municipalities in the community are Berriatua, Etxebarria, Gizaburuaga, Ispaster, Lekeitio, Markina-Xemein, Mendexa, Ondarroa and Ziortza-Bolibar.

The contract includes the collection of the following fractions: rest of refuse, organic matter, paper and cardboard, batteries and bulky items; as well as cleaning, locating, maintaining and replacing the bins.

It is estimated that each year FCC Medio Ambiente will handle nearly 6,500 tonnes of waste of which 5,200 correspond to the fraction rest.

FCC’s experience as the manager of the fifth bin (organic fraction) collection in areas similar to Lea-Artibai allows it to estimate a production of organic matter of nearly 1,235 tonnes a year. Likewise, it expects to recover some 1,020 tonnes of paper and cardboard annually. These data allow the company to clearly define a service that meets the real needs of the community.

For this service, FCC will use new and innovative vehicles designed and adapted to the needs of the municipalities in this community. The equipment integrated into the service include two side-loading compacting collectors with a capacity of 19 m3, a right-left container, satellite vehicle, two open-bodied vehicles, an inspection van and more than 450 bins (fractions rest, organic matter and paper and cardboard).

The improvements proposed by FCC notably include the implementation of the VISION® comprehensive  service management IT platform to know, record and control the status and quality of the service at all times. This platform, developed exclusively by FCC Medio Ambiente, is complemented and enhanced with a series of on-board scales and computers as well as external smart phones to capture service data and send them to the platform servers in real time.