Working on / Promoting recycling
The Municipal Tu Papel 21 programme
BLUE BIRDIES 2020: REGISTRATION PERIOD NOW OPEN
We are opening registration to take part in the Pajaritas Azules 2021 programme that forms part of Tu papel 21 – Municipalities, directed at local authorities of municipalities of more than 50,000 inhabitants and which offers technical advice, recognition and visibility in the continuous improvement of municipal management of selective paper and board collection.
Local authorities wishing to take part in the programme for the first time should register and accept the entry rules at http://tupapel21.aspapel.es/registro.php. The next step is to complete the questionnaire for annual assessment of the 21 indicators. Local authorities that have participated in previous editions are required to update their data and include the improvements they have made. The deadline for submitting applications is 31st July 2020.
In this new edition of the programme, it is still an essential requisite to monitor the level of unwanted materials in selective paper and board collections and to keep a log of those levels. The specific indicator concerning the quality of collected material shall continue to be “supercritical”, so that in order to be eligible for recognition for any of the three levels of Blue Birdies, it is mandatory to have a quality control and improvement procedure in place and to comply with certain quality standards.
The project’s technical team is available to provide advice to local authorities and concessionaires of waste collection and recovery services to help them implement the procedure, which consists of monitoring and keeping systematic logs of material quality data to detect any possible incidents and apply suitable corrective and improvement measures.

All programme documentation and the revised guide to the indicators can be downloaded from the section below. TO FIND OUT MORE...
2020 BLUE BIRDIES
Thirty-five local authorities (town councils and groups of municipalities) from twelve autonomous communities/regions received recognition for the excellence of their selective paper and board collection management in the 2020 edition of Pajaritas Azules.
By region, Andalusia and Catalonia lead the field with eight and six prize winners each, followed by Castilla & León and Madrid with five apiece, and the Basque Country with three. Following them came Castilla-La Mancha with two and Asturias, Aragon, Canary Islands, La Rioja, Baleares and Comunidad Foral de Navarra with one each.
The thirty-five award-winning local authorities account for nearly ten million inhabitants, whose enthusiastic participation in selective collection is one of the fundamental keys to success.
BACKGROUND
Promoting recycling is one of ASPAPEL’s strategic objectives, which it launched in 2002. Tu Papel is an important way of contributing to sustainable development through continuous improvement in the recovery and recycling of paper and board in Spain. As part of the project, the Tu Papel 21 programme has been implemented over the last decade and entails a system for diagnosing, implementing improvements and certifying municipal selective collection of paper and board based on 21 indicators and supported by citizen participation and communication models in line with the local guidelines for the UN’s Agenda 21 action plan.
In 2016, ASPAPEL renewed its renowned and prestigious Tu papel 21 certification programme, following ten years offering municipalities technical advice, recognition and visibility in the continuous improvement of municipal management of selective paper and board collection.
In Brussels in 2017, it won the European Paper Recycling Award, which rewards innovative projects designed to promote paper recycling in Europe. This prestigious biennial award, organised by the European Paper Recycling Council, recognises the work and commitment of the local authorities and the citizens of municipalities participating in the programme.
21 INDICATORS AND 3 LEVELS OF EXCELLENCE
Assessment is carried out on the basis of 21 indicators, which are grouped into 5 blocks: collection from blue bins, supplementary collections, public information and awareness, regulation and planning, and results and traceability to final recycling. Each indicator is appraised according to pre-set scales and the maximum score that can be achieved is 100.
Town/city councils that each year reach high levels of excellence in their management of selective paper and board collection are now given special recognition, with a scoring system that results in one, two or three Blue Birdies. Depending on their results in the following years, they can keep, increase or lose the Birdies they have won.
RECYCLING TODAY NEWSLETTER
Tu Papel 21includes a broad networking system with local public administrations and companies in the sector for the exchange of success stories, data and information on selective paper and board collection and recycling. The result of this collaboration is published every quarter in a newsletter entitled Reciclaje Al Día (Recycling Today). All past editions are available here.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE ...
The 21 indicators behind Tu Papel 21: Guide for Local Groups Download
The 21 indicators behind Tu Papel 21: Guide for Municipal Councils Download
To participate: Rules of participation in the programme Download
Calendar 2018 Dowload
(publications in Spanish version only)
Links
Access to web: www.pajaritasazules.com
European Paper Recycling Award: http://www.paperrecovery.org/recycling-award/
Video Blue Birdies 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3PG1nC1rI
List of local authorities Blue Birdies 2017 Descargar