PROJECT PAYT

Variable Rate Pricing based on Pay-As-YouThrow as a Tool of Urban Waste Management.

WASTE COLLECTION CHARGE SYSTEMS IN THE

METROPOLITAN AREA OF BARCELONA
Marta Batllevell Garca
December 2002

INDEX

INDEX

p. 1

0. METHODOLOGY

p. 2

1.

p. 2

WASTE COLLECTION CHARGES IN THE METROPOLITAN

MUNICIPALITIES

1.1. Basic features of waste collection charges for households

p. 2

1.2. The case of charges for economic activities

p. 5

1.3. Financial considerations: costs calculation and level of cost

p. 7

recovery
1.4. Social considerations: the principle of economic capacity

p. 10

1.5. Environmental considerations: incentives for recycling

p. 11

1.6. Some conclusions about the metropolitan waste collection charges

p. 12

2. OTHER SYSTEMS TO FINANCE WASTE COLLECTION

p. 13

SERVICES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

p. 16

WASTE COLLECTION CHARGE SYSTEMS IN THE METROPOLITAN

AREA OF BARCELONA

0. METHODOLOGY

Waste collection charges have been described according to eight basic criteria: typology
of the household charges, amount of the household charges, distinction between
household charges and charges for economic activities, basis for the elaboration of the
charges for economic activities, basis for the calculation of the charges, level of cost
recovery achieved, ways of taking into account the economic capacity of users and ways
of considering environmental criteria when designing the charges.

The information from the 33 municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

(MAB) has been obtained through a phone survey, undertaken during the months of
May and June 2002, based on a semi-estructured questionnaire1. The above mentioned
criteria have been the basic guidelines for the elaboration of the questionnaire. This
questionnaire is in fact the follow-up of the phone survey undertaken by the UPF in
November 2001 and incorporates the information needs pointed out by the Working
Guidance Document (WorkPackage 5).

1.

WASTE

COLLECTION

CHARGES

IN

THE

METROPOLITAN

MUNICIPALITIES

Sixteen of the thirty-three municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, 48,5%,

have waste collection charges: Badia del Valls, Barber del Valls, Begues,
Castelldefels, Gav, Molins de Rei, Montgat, El Papiol, Ripollet, Sant Andreu de la
Barca, Sant Climent de Llobregat, Sant Cugat del Valls, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant
Joan Desp, Sant Vicen dels Horts and Torrelles de Llobregat. In the case of Sant
Cugat, the charge includes not only the waste collection service but also the waste
treatment service since this municipality does not apply the TAMGREM (the
metropolitan treatment charge which is included in the water bill).

1.1. Basic features of waste collection charges for households

Table 1 presents a general classification of the basic rate systems for households
existing in the metropolitan municipalities:

Table 1. Rate systems for households in the metropolitan municipalities

RATE SYSTEM
One-tiered rate system

MUNICIPALITY

Fix rate systems with one charge

Badia del Valls, Barber del Valls, Castelldefels, Molins de

Rei, Montgat, El Papiol, Ripollet, Sant Climent de Llobregat,
Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Joan Desp, Sant Vicen dels
Horts, Torrelles de Llobregat.

Fix rate systems with multiple

charges

Begues, Gav, Sant Andreu de la Barca.

Two-tiered rate system

Sant Cugat del Valls.
Source: Follow-up survey. UPF May-June 2002.

As the table indicates, the most common rate system is the one-tiered rate system.
Within this system, most municipalities 12 municipalities, which corresponds to the
75% of the total apply fix rate systems with one charge, which implies the definition of
one preestablished charge that is revised every year.
Only three municipalities 19% apply fix rate systems with multiple charges. Those
systems are based on the creation of two or more fix charges that are calculated
according to several criteria considered relevant at local level. As shown in Table 2,
Begues, Gav and Sant Andreu de la Barca have used this typology of rate systems.

Table 2. Fix rate systems with multiple charges

MUNICIPALITY CRITERIA
Gav
Location of the household
(2001)
Begues
(2002)

Typology, location and surface

of the household

Sant Andreu de
la Barca
(2001)

Property value

TYPE OF CHARGES
Households, excluding the neighbourhood of GavMar: 6.210 ptas/year.
Households area Gav Mar: 7.950 ptas/year.
1. Detached houses:
In urban areas and in plots of land bigger than 500
m2 and up to 700 m2: 7.250 ptas/year.
In urban areas and in plots of land bigger than 700
m2: 8.250 ptas/year.
2. Other households in urban areas and country
houses: 5.350 ptas/year.
1-6.000.000 ptas: 7.865 ptas/year.
6.000.001 - 12.000.000 ptas: 8.255 ptas/year.
12.000.001 - 18.000.000 ptas: 8.645 ptas/year.
More than 18.000.000 ptas: 9.035 ptas/year.

Source: Follow-up survey. UPF May-June 2002.

1

The local ordinances were also collected.

Gav establishes the simplest classification. The municipality has defined two charges
according to the location of the household: households situated in Gav Mar have a
slightly higher charge, 7.950 ptas/year, whereas the rest have a charge of 6.210
ptas/year. In this way, the municipality tries to incorporate the differences in waste
collection costs in those municipal areas.

Begues defines three charges, the amounts of which depend on the typology, location
and surface area of the household. However, in this case, the reasons underlying the
definition of the charges are unclear. Thus, although they are clear in the case of
different surfaces, the reasons for defining different charges according to the location of
the household seem arbitrary since households in the urban centre have the same charge
as distant country houses.

Finally, Sant Andreu de la Barca establishes four charges for households that depend on
the property value: the higher the property value, the higher the charge. Therefore, the
design of the charges incorporates economic capacity criteria using the property value
as an indirect indicator of income.

Only one municipality, Sant Cugat del Valls, presents a two-tiered rate system. The
charge consists on a fix yearly part (4.900 ptas) and a variable part that is a percentage
of the property value of the households (0,037%). This variable part was included not
only to take into account economic capacity criteria but also to take into account a fair
distribution of the collection costs. In this sense, the municipality considered that
households with higher incomes (higher property values) generate more waste and
should therefore pay higher waste charges. The introduction of this rate system took
place in 1996, in the context of an intense political debate, and it generated a strong
social opposition due to the increases produced in the charges.

The different amounts of the metropolitan waste charges, from higher to lower charges
are presented in Table 3. The table presents the data from fifteen of the sixteen
municipalities with waste charges and excludes the municipality of Sant Cugat del
Valls since its waste charge includes not only waste collection but also waste

treatment. The average amount of the charge in this municipality, considering that the
average property value is ten million pesetas, would be 8.600 ptas/year (2001).

Table 3. Amount of the waste collection charges for households (2001).

MUNICIPALITY

CHARGES
MUNICIPALITY
CHARGE
(ptas/year)
(ptas/year)
Castelldefels
2.575
Gav
7.080 (average)
S. Vicen dels Horts
3.000
S. Joan Desp
7.425
S. Feliu de Llobregat
4.800
Montgat
7.500
S. Climent de Llobregat 5.320
Barber del Valls
7.920
Ripollet
5.800
Sant Andreu de la Barca 8.450 (average)
Molins de Rei
6.310
Torrelles de Llobregat
9.991
Badia del Valls
6.620
El Papiol
14.230
Begues2
6.950 (average)
AVERAGE
6.931 ptas/year
Source: Survey UPF (November 2001) and Follow-up survey (UPF May-June 2002).

As shown in the table, the average amount of the waste collection charges is 6.931
ptas/year. However, it has to be pointed out that the range of the sample determined by
the difference between the lowest (2.575 ptas) and the highest (14.230 ptas) value is
very extensive: 11.655 ptas. As we will explain later, these big differences between the
highest and the lowest charges are not only due to the different costs of the waste
collection services but rather to the different percentages of cost recovery that different
municipalities want to achieve.

1.2. The case of charges for economic activities

All the municipalities that have waste collection charges have defined specific charges
for economic activities. Table 4 shows the criteria used by the different metropolitan
municipalities when defining the amounts of the waste collection charges for economic
activities.

Seven municipalities determine the amounts of the charge according to the type of
activity and its surface area. Four municipalities define the amounts of their charges
only considering the type of activity and the other four municipalities, apart from the
type of activity, incorporate different criteria depending the type of activity considered

The charges from Begues, Gav and Sant Andreu de la Barca are different from those presented in the
"Report on the Stakeholder Survey. UPF November 2001". This is due to the fact that in the previous
report we referred to the approximate amounts mentioned by the municipal officials during the phone
survey and now we present the average of the exact amounts mentioned by the ordinances.

(surface area, number of rooms in case of hotels or number of workers in the case of
industries). The municipality of Gav would be an exception since it has defined the
waste charges, among other criteria, according to the volume of waste generated by
each activity.

Table 4. Criteria to design waste collection charges for economic activities.

CRITERIA
Type of activity and surface

MUNICIPALITY
Barber del Valls, Castelldefels, Montgat, Sant
Andreu de la Barca, Sant Cugat del Valls, Sant
Feliu de Llobregat i Sant Vicen dels Horts.

Type of activity only

Begues, El Papiol, Sant Climent de Llobregat i

Torrelles de Llobregat

Type of activity and other criteria according to the Badia del Valls, Molins de Rei, Ripollet i Sant
activity considered (surface, number of rooms in Joan Desp.
the case of hotels or number of workers in the case
of industries)
Type of activity, geographical situation and volume Gav.
of waste generated.
Source: Follow-up survey. UPF May-June 2002.

The consideration of the type of economic activity to determine the amounts of the
charges of the different activities follows what the Sindicatura de Comptes (2001:23)
defines as the principle of benefit, this is, those users that generate higher amounts of
waste are those that contribute with a higher per capita charge to the financing of the
service. This implies that households normally have the lowest charges followed usually
by commerce. On the other hand, restaurants, bars and industries, have generally higher
charges.

Other criteria, such as surface area, are normally included to combine the type of
activity with other factors that can have an influence on the generation of waste (bigger
areas, for example, will have higher waste charges). In any case, the criteria considered
try to make an approximate link between the charges and the amount of waste generated
and, therefore, between the charges and the amount of collection service used by each
economic activity.

Finally, it has to be emphasised that one municipality, Gav, apart from considering the
type of activity and its geographical location, takes into account the volume of waste
generated by each activity to calculate the amount of the charge. The municipal waste

collection service undertook a study to estimate the volume of waste produced by each
activity. Taking into consideration the results of the study, the municipality defined
several categories of waste production, the different economic activities were placed in
the different categories and the municipality determined the different amounts to be
paid. To illustrate this, Table 5 presents the amounts of the waste charges for
restaurants, commerce and industries situated in the area of Gav Mar.

Table 5. Waste collection charges for restaurants, commerce and industries situated in Gav Mar.
VOLUME
CHARGE (ptas/year)
Up to 50 l. per day
16. 280
Up to 100 l. per day
35.560
Up to 150 l. per day
48.830
Up to 250 l. per day
81.390
Up to 500 l. per day
162.770
Up to 1000 l. per day
325.490
Source: Follow-up survey. UPF May-June 2002.

However, this type of waste charges per volume cannot be considered as an example of
PAYT charges since they are fix annual charges and they are not calculated according to
a regular measure of the volume of waste generated. Thus, this type of charges do not
create a permanent incentive to reduce the amount of waste generated and/or to increase
recycling.

1.3. Financial considerations: costs calculation and level of cost recovery

All the metropolitan municipalities point out that the amount of the charges have been
calculated according to the collection costs. In addition, the definition of the collection
costs has also been used to control the application of the equivalence principle,
according to which the amount of a charge designed to finance a service cannot exceed
in total the actual or foreseeable cost of the service provided3. Only two municipalities,
Begues and El Papiol, argue that political considerations were taken into account when
defining the amount of the charge.

In spite of that, as Table 6 indicates, only three metropolitan municipalities claim to

have achieved a total level of cost recovery. In fact, eight municipalities present levels

Law 39/1988, regulating local finances, article 24.1.

of cost recovery that are lower or or equal to 70% and only five municipalities have
levels of cost recovery higher than 70%.

Table 6. Level of cost recovery in metropolitan municipalities.

% COST RECOVERY
MUNICIPALITY
50%
Begues, Castelldefels, Sant Cugat, Sant Vicen dels Horts
51-60%
Sant Feliu de Llobregat
61-70%
Gav, Molins de Rei, Sant Climent de Llobregat
71-80%
81-90%
Ripollet, Sant Joan Desp
91-100%
Barber del Valls, Montgat, Torrelles de Llobregat
Deficit (without specifying)
El Papiol, Sant Andreu de la Barca
No answer
Badia del Valls
Source: Survey UPF (November 2001) and Follow-up survey (UPF May-June 2002).

As we have just noted, the equivalence principle establishes a maximum level that
cannot be exceeded when calculating charges the costs of the service but not a
minimum level of cost recovery. This implies that the amount of the charge and
therefore the level of cost recovery is determined at political level. In fact, partial cost
recovery is related to a common practice in Catalan municipalities and Spanish
municipalities in general that consists in the establishment of political prices when
defining charges.

Thus, even though there can be an initial cost analysis, the final charge is not decided
exclusively on the basis of financial criteria (cost recovery) but basically on the basis of
political considerations. Therefore, the main criteria taken into consideration are the
amount of previous charges, the amount of charges in other municipalities and
especially that the amount of the charge is not higher than what is considered as
socially acceptable. In this way, what is not covered through the charges is covered
through the general municipal budget. Consequently, although only two municipalities
acknowledge to take into consideration political considerations when defining the
charges, it should be emphasised that the establishment of political prices is a
common practice in all municipalities with partial cost recovery.

Moreover, the levels of cost recovery can vary from one year to another in cases where
charges do not increase proportionally to the increase of the costs of the service. In this
sense, Ripollet, for example, foresaw a level of cost recovery of 85% in 2001 but

foresees a lower level of cost recovery for the year 2002 75-77% due to not
proportional increases between the charges and the costs.

It also has to be pointed out that the criteria considered by the different municipalities
when calculating the different levels of cost recovery can be heterogeneous since they
depend on the methodology of cost calculation used by each municipality. As a matter
of fact, the ambiguity of the Law 39/1988, regulating local finances, with regard to the
determination of the costs that constitute the total costs of the service4 can result in the
use of different methodologies for calculating the costs of the service.

Indeed, if we analyse the costs that are taken into account by two metropolitan
municipalities, Molins de Rei and Sant Feliu de Llobregat, when calculating their waste
collection charges, we note that not only the typology of costs taken into account is
different but also the way in which those costs are considered (as direct or indirect
costs).

Table 7. Costs considered when calculating the waste collection charge in two metropolitan
municipalities.
MUNICIPALITY
Molins de Rei

Sant Feliu de Llobregat

COSTS INCLUDED
DIRECT COSTS
INDIRECT COSTS
Monthly bill from the waste collection % of the following departments: Accountancy,
company.
Treasury, Rents (which includes collection of
40% salary costs of the Head of the bills5), Secretary, Governmental Dept., Mayor's
Dept.
Environmental Department.
Waste collection costs.
Green Point costs.
Board collection costs.
Glass collection costs.
Receipt collection costs.

Interests costs.
Depreciation costs.
Personnel costs.

Source: Follow-up survey. UPF May-June 2002.

On the one hand, as for the typology of costs considered, whereas Sant Feliu de
Llobregat includes the costs of the Green Point, the costs related to the interests and the
depreciation costs, these types of costs are not taken into account by Molins de Rei. On
the other hand, the criteria used by both municipalities for classifying costs as direct or
indirect are different. Thus, all personnel costs are considered as indirect in Sant Feliu

The law refers vaguely to the need to include direct and indirect costs, including financial and
depreciation costs as well as general relevant costs.
5
Although acknowledging that it is a direct cost, it is considered as indirect.

10

de Llobregat whereas in Molins de Rei the personnel costs (only referred to the Head of
the Environmental Department) are defined as direct costs.

Due to this remarkable divergence of criteria, the homogenization of the methodology

of costs calculation would surely imply some changes in the percentages of cost
recovery declared by the different metropolitan municipalities.

1.4. Social considerations: the principle of economic capacity

In Spain, according to the so-called economic capacity principle, it is compulsory to

take into consideration the economic capacity of residents when designing a charge. The
economic capacity principle is used both in Law 39/1988, regulating local finances, and
Law 8/1989, dealing with charges and public prices/fees6.

In spite of that, only one municipality, Sant Andreu de la Barca, considers economic
capacity criteria in the design of the amounts of the charge7. In fact, the most common
way to take this principle into account is through the establishment of exemptions and
discounts to the charge.

Thus, all the metropolitan municipalities take into consideration the economic capacity
of users through the establishment of exemptions to the payment of the charge except
for the municipality of Castelldefels8. However, the definition of the users eligible to be
exempted from the charge varies from one municipality to another9.

Three municipalities also include exemptions for institutions. On the one hand, Molins
de Rei and Sant Vicen dels Horts include exemptions for institutions which have been
designated as charitable or as charitable/educational institutions. On the other hand,
6

According to Law 39/1988, article 24.3, general criteria of economic capacity will need to be taken
into account to determine the amount of charges. According to Law 8/1989, article 8, the economic
capacity of payees will have to be taken into account when designing a charge, whenever the features of
the charge allow for it.
7
Indirectly, as we have noted before, using the property value as an indirect indicator of income.
8
Probably due to the low amount of the charge.
9
Pensioned and retired people with an annual income less than the minimum salary (for example, Sant
Feliu de Llobregat); taxpayers who are not required to submit personal income tax declarations (for
example, Sant Cugat del Valls); taxpayers who have been declared legally "poor", taxpayers who are
registered in the Welfare Roll as "penniless" or those who receive an income less the average minimum
salary (for example Begues or Torrelles de Llobregat).

11

Sant Cugat del Valls grants exemptions to associations and foundations that have
been declared to be of public benefit.

Finally, it must be noted that the municipality of Sant Vicen dels Horts also includes
exemptions for economic activities that hire private waste collection services so as to
promote this type of waste management.

Apart from exemptions, five municipalities determine the possibility of establishing

deductions (percentage discounts) to the waste charge. Four of them establish discounts
for low income households (Badia del Valls, Barber del Valls, El Papiol and Sant
Cugat del Valls) and two of them (El Papiol and Sant Vicen dels Horts) include some
discounts to promote recycling.

1.5. Environmental considerations: incentives for recycling

El Papiol and Sant Vicen dels Horts are the only two metropolitan municipalities that
include in their ordinances some considerations to encourage recycling. In both cases,
the incentives included are discounts in the waste collection charge for the use of the
Green Point.

The promotion of recycling through discounts in the charges is difficult to manage in

the current situation since curbside collection areas are voluntary and anonymous.
Therefore, the Green Point constitutes the only collection centre where the user can be
identified and the amount of recyclables can be measured. This is why both
municipalities have decided to use the number of visits to the Green Point as the basis to
establish the discounts. The type of discounts defined by both municipalities are
summarised in Table 8.

The introduction of discounts has apparently been effective since, according to the
municipality of Sant Vicen dels Horts, the number of deposits of recyclables in the
Green Point has increased, especially in the case of economic activities.

12

Table 8. Discounts to encourage recycling at the MAB.

MUNICIPALITY
El Papiol

DISCOUNTS (2001)
Households: 6% discount in the waste collection charge to citizens who use the
Green Point a minimum of 12 times per year and who deliver a minimum of 100
kg of recyclables per year (it is also compulsory to deliver some dangerous
waste).
Economic activities: 6% discount in the waste collection charge to economic
activities who use the Green Point a minimum of 20 times per year and who
deliver a minimum of 450 kg of recyclables per year.

Sant Vicen dels Horts

The Department of the Environment has dedicated a percentage of its budget to

be able to offer discounts. The budget available was 9 million pesetas in 2001.
58% of the budget is expected to cover discounts for households and 42% is
expected to cover discounts for economic activities.
Households: A percentage (Y) is calculated from the 58% of the budget
dedicated to discounts:
Y (%) = Number of visits per year of a household / Total number of visits
(households) * 100.
Discounts for economic activities: A percentage (Z) is calculated from the 42%
of the budget dedicated to discounts:
Z (%) = Number of kg per year delivered by the economic activity / Total
number of kg per year delivered by economic activities * 100.

Source: Follow-up survey. UPF May-June 2002.

1.6. Some conclusions about the metropolitan waste collection charges

Political, financial and social criteria are the most important criteria taken into account
by metropolitan municipalities when designing waste collection charges. Metropolitan
waste collection charges can be classified as user charges, according to the OECD
(1997) classification of charges10, since they have been determined to finance a public
service: the waste collection service. In this sense, metropolitan waste collection
charges are mostly financial tools, but only partially since, although they have a
financial objective, total cost recovery is not achieved.

Even though metropolitan waste charges take into account the basic legal principles for
the elaboration of charges, the equivalence principle and the economic capacity
principle, they do not incorporate the environmental criteria based on the polluter pays
principle that are established in the National Urban Waste Management
Programme(2000): proportional rate systems according to generation and consideration
of all costs derived from the correct environmental management of waste. Since the
10

The OECD (1997:16) distinguishes among: emission charges, user charges and product charges.

13

amounts of the waste charges are not linked to the amount of pollution produced
(waste)11, metropolitan waste charges are not incentive tools12 and therefore they do not
contribute to the achievement of the waste policy objectives.

As for fairness, the fact of being fixed charges with no link to the amount of waste
generated implies that, as Berbel (2000:20) points out in the case of Spanish waste
collection charges in general, users pay rather according to their "potential use" of the
waste collection service than to their real use of the service.

Many metropolitan municipalities, however, do not even have waste collection charges
and they use other types of systems to finance the waste collection services.

2. OTHER SYSTEMS TO FINANCE WASTE COLLECTION SERVICES

The existence of a charge to finance the waste collection service was a common practice
in the municipalities belonging to the MAB. This charge, however, was eliminated in
seventeen of the metropolitan municipalities (51,5%) and, nowadays, the following
municipalities do not have a waste collection charge: Badalona, Barcelona,
Castellbisbal, Cerdanyola, Cornell de Llobregat, Esplugues de Llobregat, LHospitalet,
Montcada i Reixac, Pallej, El Prat de Llobregat, Sant Adri del Bess, Sant Boi de
Llobregat, Sant Just Desvern, Santa Coloma de Cervell, Santa Coloma de Gramanet,
Tiana and Viladecans.

The elimination took place in the nineties in municipalities such as Cornell de

Llobregat (1994/95), Castellbisbal (1996) or Sant Adri del Bess (1997/98), and it took
place even later in municipalities such as Tiana or Sant Boi de Llobregat (2000). In
most municipalities the charge was integrated into the property tax. The amount of this
tax was therefore increased so as to include the waste collection costs.

One of the reasons to eliminate the charge was that it allowed the elimination of a
census and thus administrative costs decreased. This fact is especially relevant in big
11

Except for the commercial charges in Gav, which represent an attempt to approximate the charge to
the amount of waste generated.
12
Apart from the "weak" incentives used by the two municipalities that include some discounts for the
use of the Green Point.

14

metropolitan municipalities since, as Table 9 indicates, the nine biggest metropolitan

municipalities do not have waste collection charges13.

Table 9. Existence of waste collection charge in the metropolitan municipalities.

MUNICIPALITY
Barcelona
LHospitalet de Llobregat
Badalona
Santa Coloma de Gramanet
Cornell de Llobregat
Sant Boi de Llobregat
El Prat de Llobregat
Viladecans
Cerdanyola del Valls
Sant Cugat del Valls
Esplugues de Llobregat
Gav
Castelldefels
Sant Feliu de Llobregat
Sant Adri del Bess
Ripollet
Montcada i Reixac

POPULATION
1.508.805
255.050
210.987
123.175
82.490
78.005
63.255
53.235
50.503
47.210
46.810
37.985
37.509
35.797
33.361
28.903
27.068

CHARGE
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No

MUNICIPALITY
Sant Joan Desp
Barber del Valls
Sant Vicen dels Horts
Molins de Rei
Sant Andreu de la Barca
Badia del Valls
Sant Just Desvern
Montgat
Pallej
Castellbisbal
Tiana
El Papiol
Santa Coloma de Cervell
Torrelles de Llobregat
Begues
Sant Climent de Llobregat
TOTAL

POPULATION
26.805
25.484
22.621
18.752
18.332
17.058
13.306
7.659
6.846
6.271
5.172
3.434
3.358
3.114
3.105
2.476
2.904.941

CHARGE
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
17 // 16

Source: Survey UPF (November 2001), Follow-up survey (UPF May-June 2002) and EMA 1998.

As for the advantages for the citizens, apart from the simplicity that the system implies,
many municipalities emphasise the fact that the property tax can be deducted from the
income tax.

The integration of the waste collection costs into the property tax, however, can be only
partial. Thus, in some municipalities, such as LHospitalet, even though the household
waste collection costs (80% of the total costs) are integrated into the property tax, there
is a waste collection charge for commerce and industries (that constitutes 20% of the
total costs).

The city of Barcelona has also a charge for economic activities which is calculated
according to the type of activity and its surface area. Moreover, Barcelona includes
some especial considerations for "big producers"14, this is, economic activities that
generate more than 1.100 l. of waste. Big producers can thus hire a private company to
undertake the waste collection service or they can use the municipal collection service.
Those economic activities that decide to use the municipal collection service pay

13

The updating of the census of the charge, however, also posed problems to small municipalities. In this
sense, the municipality of Tiana points out that including the waste collection costs into the property tax
allows them to use its census that is updated and, thus, more realistic which resulted in a fairer
distribution of the costs of waste collection among citizens.
14
Since November 2001, the first year of application has therefore been 2002.

15

according to the number of containers used, which constitutes a sort of PAYT system
per volume at commercial level.

In other cases, the elimination of the waste collection charge implied also the increase
of other municipal taxes apart from the property tax. In this way, in the municipality of
El Prat de Llobregat, where the waste collection charge was eliminated in 1989/90, the
elimination implied the increase both of the property tax and the economic activities tax.

Two exceptional cases would be the municipalities of Montcada i Reixac and

Viladecans where the non-existence of waste collection charges seems to be related to a
grant they receive from the Metropolitan Environmetal Agency. As a matter of fact,
those grants are due to the presence of metropolitan waste treatment infrastructures in
both municipalities and they are used to finance the waste collection service15.

In spite of the administrative advantages of the integration of the waste collection costs
in the property tax, the integration poses some problems to municipalities. On the one
hand, the property tax has no flexibility since the increases in the tax not higher than
the IPC are not proportional to the increases of the waste collection costs. Therefore,
the evolution of the cost of the waste collection service is not reflected by the tax. On
the other hand, the non-existence of a waste collection charge creates a sort of fiscal
illusion among citizens, who tend to perceive the collection service as free.

15

Viladecans, for example, argues that they receive a grant from the Metropolitan Environmental Agency
due to the existence of a metropolitan selection plant in the municipality. Due to political reasons, when
they started receiving the grant they eliminated the existing waste collection charge and they increased the
porperty tax at the same time so as to include the costs that were not covered with the grant.

16

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

BERBEL, J. (2000). "Situacin de las tasas en Espaa". Forum sobre la gestin de

residuos. Palma de Mallorca, 10 i 11 de febrer de 2000.
(2001). "Anlisis de los impuestos y las tasas locales para la gestin de los residuos
slidos urbanos como ecotasa que contribuye a la gestin sostenible de los
residuos". International Conference "Local and Regional Authorities: Waste
management and recycling policies". Barcelona, 17th-18th May 2001.
BORRERO MORO, C. (1999). La tributacin ambiental en Espaa. Tecnos, Madrid.
CENTRE D'ESTUDIS DE PLANIFICACI (1994). Anlisi dels costos del servei
municipal de rescollida de residus slids urbans per a diferents ciutats
espanyoles. CEP, Barcelona.
(1994). Anlisi dels costos del servei municipal de recollida de residus slids
urbans. Els municipis metropolitans. CEP, Barcelona.
ENTITAT DEL MEDI AMBIENT (1998). Programa Metropolit de Gesti de Residus
Municipals. rea Metropolitana de Barcelona, Entitat del Medi Ambient,
Barcelona.
MINISTERIO DE MEDIO AMBIENTE (2000). Plan Nacional de Residuos Urbanos
(2000-2006). Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Madrid.
OCDE (1993). La fiscalidad y el medio ambiente. Mundi-Prensa, Madrid.
(1997). Evaluating economic instruments for environmental policy. OECD, Paris.
SINDICATURA DE COMPTES DE CATALUNYA (1997). Eficincia i cost dels
serveis locals de recollida descombraries. Exercici 1994. Sindicatura de
Comptes, Barcelona.
(2001). Eficincia i cost dels serveis locals de recollida descombraries. Exercici
1998. Sindicatura de Comptes, Barcelona.

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