FCC Medio Ambiente (the Spanish brand for FCC Environment) has now renewed up to 80% of the cleaning & collection service fleet for Bilbao city council. The new fleet is more modern, quieter, reduces water consumption and is more environmentally friendly.

Over 200 of the 251 cleaning vehicles have been renewed so far. This equipment will improve the service and adapt to the city's flows, and represents an investment of over 24 million euros. The new fleet includes 63 electric vehicles, accounting for 25% of the total, in an important step towards electric-powered mobility in the city's services. All inspection and small-sized vehicles will now be fuelled by petrol or electricity rather than diesel.

The number of multifunctional equipment units for disinfection, removal of dog excrement and cleaning graffiti and stains has been increased by the addition of low-consumption high-pressure hot-water hydrocleaners, and bead-blasting compressors for more resistant graffiti.

There is also a specific service for removing leaves using vacuum equipment mounted on designated vehicles.

All the street mechanical sweepers, washers and machinery that are deployed on pavements and in pedestrian areas during cleaning will be equipped with a rear-mounted camera and an acoustic reversing alarm to enhance safety during operation.

One innovation in the new machinery is the incorporation of self-propelled vacuum cleaners for the maintenance of neighbourhoods in busy areas, as they cause less impact than conventional street-sweepers.

OPEN-BODY LORRIES WITH A PLATFORM, measuring 18 m3, have also been acquired to collect and manage furniture and household items that the public can request to be collected on a weekly basis by calling the municipal telephone number 010.

This new fleet of vehicles represents an enhancement of the collection service. The expansion of the collection of selective organic waste is already underway in the whole of Bilbao. New vehicles for collecting this organic waste have now been incorporated, and side-loading, brown containers have been installed using the same system as for the rest of waste fractions: residual, packaging and commercial paper-cardboard. These brown bins are opened by means of an individual electronic card, which improves their management and user service.

The stock of containers for cardboard and glass is being substantially reinforced with an increase of almost 20%, 70% in the case of cooking oil bins, and over 1,400 new units of the aforementioned bins for selective organic waste (brown containers).

The new lorries for collecting side-loading bins come in different sizes –25 and 28 m3, with three and four axles respectively– to adapt to the circumstances of the area where they will be working, thus maximising their performance.

The aim is to provide citizens with a more user-friendly service by performing the functions with the least possible inconvenience but always guaranteeing safety and efficiency and adapting to the needs of each area of the city.