Veolia in the heart of Buenos Aires

The challenge

Latin America is a dynamic region experiencing sustained urban development. Stronger environmental constraints in the region's major cities is leading local authorities to implement solutions to manage their complex environmental problems.

Customer objective

To meet the objectives of the "Zero Waste" law passed in 2006, the city outsources the collection of solid household waste and urban cleanliness in Zone 1 and its 6 key districts: Retiro, San Nicolás, Puerto Madero, San Telmo, Monserrat and Constitución. A dense and complex urban sector, with significant population and transport movements and both economic and tourism activities. With its large population and more than 12,000 commercial and service buildings, Zone 1 is the most complex part of the city to operate in. 

The Veolia solution

 Partnering the city since 1998, Veolia has been providing a complete public urban cleaning service since 2014 - household waste collection, manual and mechanical cleaning on a daily basis - in the heart of the Argentinian capital's emblematic districts. Concerned about improving service performance and hygiene, VeoliaProactiva deploys and operates a total waste containerization system in the sector. Veolia and the municipality created the entity AESA Buenos Aires to cover this contract.

Innovation

Increasingly integrated and connected urban waste collection and sanitation services:

• collection routes are optimised thanks to sector division programmes, planning and GPS systems that support the fleet of vehicles in real time;

• employees have mobile devices at their disposal to report incidents, fill sensors, equip containers…

Technology

In search of the most appropriate container model, AESA constantly evaluates and tests different prototypes.

In special areas, such as Villa 31 or the Administration district, roll-out boxes of different sizes and metal or plastic containers are used.

In the hyper-centre, underground containers are used with special trucks that extract, empty and clean them every evening.

Customer benefits

Environmental performance

• Preservation of the urban living environment

• Improving service performance and hygiene

Economic performance

AESA ensures an efficient cleaning service without disrupting traffic, particularly in the two high-traffic density areas of Retiro and Constitución, which have strategic public transport hubs. Rail, metro and bus terminals are concentrated in these two districts.

Societal performance 

The introduction of the container system involves a new way of disposing of household waste. Bags are no longer removed from every doorway, but must be placed inside the containers. This is the key to success. The bag system also improves the efficiency of the sweeping service.

With the total containerisation of the entire territory making up Zone 1, the biggest challenge is to convince users in neighbouring areas to use containers correctly.