Benefits of introducing door-to-door separate collection in rural areas

There is a pre-conception that in rural isolated areas, the production of recyclable waste is reduced and door-to-door collection schemes are not worth setting-up. This work describes the implementation of a pilot test for door-to-door collection of dry recyclable waste at a small rural site. It aims at improving the knowledge about the waste generated in rural areas and the impact on source segregation habits arising from the implementation of door-to-door collection. The strategy comprised the introduction of individual waste containers and bags at household level and setting up a waste generation monitoring and physical composition evaluation programs. The recyclable waste more than tripled after implementation of door-to-door collection, from 23 kg/inhab/year to 73 kg/inhab/year. Concomitantly, residual waste decreased from 230 kg/inhab/year to 180 kg/inhab/year. The strategy followed at the test site represented a positive incentive for householders and services to source segregate and produce less residual waste.