The Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental journal has published an article co-authored by Ignasi Puig (ENT) together with Gemma Patón, Professor of Financial and Tax Law at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. The article is entitled “Study of the legal framework of local tax regulations for waste management”.
Law 7/2022, of April 8, on Waste and Contaminated Soil for a Circular Economy requires local authorities to establish a waste charge specific and differentiated that allows for the implementation of pay-as-you-throw schemes and which covers the full cost, direct or indirect, of the waste collection, transportation and treatment operations. In addition to the legal framework, this article presents the state of waste charges in Spain in 2023, where flat rates predominate and are still far from full cost coverage.
It is recommended to accompany the ordinances regulating the waste charge with municipal ordinances regulating the service. It is also crucial to have transparent and detailed technical-economic reports to determine the balance of costs and the justification of the tariff structure. The trend should be towards the adoption of pay-as-you-throw schemes, which require individualized separate collection systems. Most variable pricing systems are based on separate door-to-door collection models.
Bibliographical Reference
Patón García, G., Puig Ventosa, I. “Estudio del marco jurídico de las ordenanzas fiscales locales para la gestión de los residuos” Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental Vol. XV. Núm. 2(2024): 1-34.