Welcome to
Vitoria-Gasteiz
The brief
At the turn of the century the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council initiated the ambitious project of turning the historical center into an all pedestrian zone. The intention was to eliminate traffic with heavy waste collection trucks and the large voluminous waste bins from the narrow streets. The bins, in addition to occupying public space, presented inconveniences like getting over-filled, odours and vermin.
The Project
Once awarded the public tender, Envac installed the first system in 2002, on the main streets of Vitoria Historic City Center. The system contributed to create a new urban space with higher environmental qualities for the residents and business owners.
After this first and positive experience in the Historic City Center, the Council decided to install pneumatic systems in the new urban developments (Ibiondo, Salburua, Zabalgana, Mariturri and Arretxabaleta), in order to make the system a standard in the city’s public infrastructure.
Today Vitoria has 6 pneumatic waste collection systems – the last taken into operation in November 2020. The Arretxabaleta system covers the needs of 34,800 dwellings, the equivalent of 107,200 inhabitants.
7,190 tons/year
2 separate waste fractions
Organic / Rest
1,240 waste inlets
conveniently located across the city for easy disposal
50,6 km pipe network
for underground transport of waste from buildings to collection terminal