They denounce to the European Commission the garbage rate applied by some town councils

The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has reported to the European Commission that the garbage rate applied by different municipalities fails to comply with the European directive on waste, as announced by this group.

OCU has recalled that the Directive (EU) 2018/851 on waste establishes the principle of “polluter pays” which should encourage the management of any type of waste. In Spain, the transposition of the directive was carried out through the approval of the Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy that established the obligation for municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants to establish a waste management fee that reflected the real cost of management applying the aforementioned principle.

Despite this obligation, the application of the aforementioned rate has not been done correctly. The OCU studies show that some town councils such as those of Badajoz, Ciudad Real, Guadalajara, Huelva, Huesca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lugo, Murcia, Orense, Oviedo, Palma de Mallorca, Pontevedra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Teruel and Zamora, all taxpayers apply a fixed rate, so that it does not reflect the real cost of the service nor does it apply the polluter pays principle.

In the case of Madrid City Councilassures the OCU, “the principle of the directive has not been respected either, since the garbage rate is calculated, with a fixed part, which It is calculated according to the cadastral value of the home, which can be discriminatory and far from the real cost of the service. “In addition, this value is combined with two other criteria: the generation of waste by neighborhood and the quality of garbage separation in each district.”This generates great differences between neighbors depending on where they live.since waste whose origin is not strictly residential is mixed (tourist apartments, shops or businesses whose waste collection is done jointly with ordinary collection), the result is a strong penalty for some neighbors.

In his complaint to the European Commission, OCU requests that it be evaluated whether the transposition carried out by all municipalities in Spain adjusts to the content and to the spirit of the aforementioned Directive and that if non-compliance is detected, it is urged to initiate the corresponding procedure among those contemplated in European legislation to comply with the waste directive.

How to act if you disagree

For all those who consider themselves harmed by the garbage rate and want to exercise their right to appeal, OCU has recalled that “they have one month to challenge it” before “the City Council’s Tax Agency itself (replacement appeal) or directly before the municipal Economic-Administrative Court (economic-administrative appeal)” and that as documentation “you only have to attach the copy of the settlement.”

“In this first step, The appeal does not require the intervention of a lawyer or attorney”, although it is “necessary to analyze the municipal rule and see the arguments for the appeal, which can be complicated for some consumers.” If the attempt is unsuccessful, the citizen has two months to file a contentious administrative appeal. In this case, the presence of a lawyer is necessary.