Waste collection fee

Maintenance of Public Areas

The fee for the collection of municipal waste from private homes is an environmental tax used for the proper management of the household waste produced in the city. The aim is to improve waste treatment, increase selective collection and reduce emissions in accordance with European Directive 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the Metropolitan Programme for the Prevention and Management of Municipal Resources and Waste.

The fee came into force on 1 July 2020 and is paid as part of the water bill. In the metropolitan area as a whole, the waste fee has already been introduced in 23 out of 36 municipalities. [data from 2020]

The amounts payable will be established based on the type of home receiving the domestic water supply service, based on the nominal flow and consumption bands set forth in the Integral Water Cycle Metropolitan Service Regulations. The amounts collected as a result of the new fee will be used to improve the service and its management.

760,000 homes in Barcelona are fitted with domestic water meters. Of these, 12,500 are exempt from paying the fee under Law 24/2015 on urgent measures for addressing the housing emergency and energy poverty or vulnerability. A total of 557,000 homes, 73.3% of the total, pay between €27 and €51 per year, which is equivalent to €2.25 to €4.25 per month.

Fee reductions

For Barcelona city, reductions have been envisaged in the following cases:

A reduction for those people who have been acknowledged the right to special billing for the drinking water supply service for households containing the number of people specified in the Integral Water Cycle Metropolitan Service Regulations. The fee payable will be reduced by 5% for each additional household member.
A 5% reduction for each person registered at the address of the water supply contract who has a recognised degree of disability of 75% or more.
Reductions of up to 14% on the fee payable for people who use a Green Point user card at the city’s fixed and mobile Green Points. This ranges from 1% for two uses of green points a year to 14% for 15 or more uses per year.

Did you know that...

Separating waste properly helps reduce CO₂ emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from waste treatment vary depending on how it is managed. The final treatment, landfill or energy recovery (incineration), generates the most CO₂ emissions. Selective collection and recycling are the best options for reducing emissions. Municipal waste treatment is responsible for 10.4% of Barcelona’s greenhouse gas emissions.