Sagunto to modernise its bin network with 1,800 new smart units
Sagunto City Council, through municipal company SAG, will replace 1,800 street litter bins with new lidded, chip-tagged models to improve urban cleanliness across the municipality.
The renewal, carried out by SAG Sagunto, is gradually replacing the 1,800 basket-style bins found across the municipality with new models that have a raised lid, designed to stop wind from scattering rubbish through the streets and to give public spaces a tidier look. The work will take place over the coming months and is due to finish before the end of the year. Each new bin also comes with an identification chip that will log every emptying operation, a system that will let the municipal company track more precisely how often each point is serviced and which areas need extra attention. SAG Sagunto is the municipal public company in charge of street cleaning and urban hygiene across the entire municipality, covering both the historic town centre and Puerto de Sagunto (the coastal district). The company appears, alongside other public bodies and companies, on the City Council's official list of municipal entities, confirming that it is a public company rather than an outsourced private contractor. It is the same company that, weeks before this announcement, was at the centre of a waste-collection strike that ran for several days and ended with an agreement between the Mayor's Office and the Works Council in late July. The dispute had triggered complaints from residents about rubbish piling up on some streets and led Compromís (a left-leaning Valencian party) to call for the resignation of the councillor in charge, Jorge Vidal, over his handling of the waste department. The bin renewal therefore arrives at a moment when the cleaning service is under closer public scrutiny than usual, and the City Council is presenting it as a sign of continuity in its street-furniture modernisation plan now that the labour dispute is over. The new tracking system is not only meant to justify the spending on 1,800 units: it also gives the City Council an objective data tool on emptying frequency that can be used to answer specific resident complaints about particular spots in the city — something that until now relied only on visual inspections by municipal staff. The stated goal is to keep public spaces cleaner and better organised, with bins that hold up better against wind and daily wear on the municipality's streets. According to aytosagunto.es and elperiodic.com, with additional background from Sagunto City Council on SAG's mandate.