Today, few people in Catalonia and Spain as a whole pay the real price for managing the waste they generate. It is estimated that the average municipal rubbish fees cover only up to 72% of the cost of the service – even in some municipalities nothing is paid – and that these are fixed fees, regardless of the amount of waste or the quality of selective collection.
The management of municipal waste is the responsibility of the local bodies, which are the bodies that establish the amount of this fee. Because for one reason or another, this amount has always been lower than what it really costs, the public has perceived that waste is cheap to manage. And doing it well, it is not.
And what is the problem? Well, the European Union has established that the municipal waste management service will have to be financed entirely with citizens’ taxes, from April next year. And citizens, used to paying little for waste, will see a significant increase in the rate.
In fact, in terms of waste, the European Union has set many targets for 2025 and local councils and bodies must put their batteries in place urgently. On January 1 of next year, it will be mandatory to collect various fractions that have been voluntary until now, such as textile waste and used cooking oil, or hazardous and bulky household waste. In Catalonia, the collection of organics appeared almost twenty years ago, but in some territories of the State it will be a novelty.
Municipal waste: the EU, the Spanish State or the councils, whose responsibility is it?
The countdown is on and the time is approaching: the year 2025. The European Union requires member states to comply with selective collection objectives, the management of new fractions, the reduction of landfill use, etc., but the competence is municipal. But it is the citizens who must ensure that they generate as little waste as possible and, in any case, separate and deposit them correctly. What is the responsibility of the councils? The correct management of the waste generated by its citizens. That is, make the collection of the different fractions available to citizens and guarantee the correct management of each of them.
Payment systems for generation and circular economy
The fact that waste management is collected as a fixed fee benefits those who generate a lot of waste and harms those who, due to consumption habits or environmental awareness, do not generate as much.
Pay-per-generation systems are fairer in setting waste rates; simple: who generates more, pays more. But not only that, this type of collection model also promotes selective collection of higher quality, as it is done through highly efficient systems such as door-to-door collection and closed containers with identification. These models penalize people who don’t do things right, because they generate too much waste or mix the different fractions.
Environmental education plays and must play an important role. We need to generate less waste and manage the generated waste better. The changes that will come respond to two important premises to consider. First of all, that our planet has limited resources, which have been wasted for some time and this must end. And, secondly, that the correct management of waste is not a cheap activity. The environmental requirements we have imposed on ourselves in Europe require significant investments to make the most of our waste.
Ultimately, how can we reduce the environmental and economic impact? Simple: generating less waste and carrying out a correct separation at home, which guarantees quality selective collection.
