Waste Collection Bill Expected to Quadruple

Whilst Torrevieja town hall has discreetly mentioned a price increase for the dreadfully inferior and expensive waste collection service, the residents may hope that the town hall doesn’t look to their political partners in Alicante, where the PP government there have just quadrupled the bill for 2025.

The governing team of the PP in Alicante approved the update of the rate for the collection, treatment and disposal of waste service, in compliance with the legal obligation included in European and state regulations, to equate the amount of the collection to the real cost of the service, which means that the price per home that has been paid until now will practically quadruple.

At least, that is the calculation that emerges with regard to the difference between the amount that has been paid until now for a home of less than 104 square metres (22.27 euro for homes located on a category 4 road) compared to the amount now contemplated (83.62 euro) for a home of up to 60 square metres with a cadastral value of up to 300 euro per square metre.

This increase aims to settle the deficit that the City Council has been assuming until now, charging its own budgets, since, with the rate still in force, it does not even cover 40% of the real cost of the service, as specified by the Deputy Mayor and Councillor for the Environment, Cleaning and Waste Management, Manuel Villar, when announcing the general terms of the agreement, in the weekly public appearance in which the decisions approved by the Local Council are reported.

According to the new proposal, which must begin its administrative process in the information committee and debate in plenary, a new grading and classification of bills is established with amounts adapted to the specific characteristics of each home. This classification would take into account parameters established by the technicians of the Cleaning Department such as the cadastral value of each home and its square metres.

At the same time, the territorial zoning that has been in force until now when assessing the amounts of the bills will disappear, since, as Villar explained, “there were serious doubts as to whether this zoning was legal”, in view of the examples of updating that have already been promoted in other municipalities, in which a similar zoning was also included, which has motivated its challenge.

The proposed revision of the rate also introduces formulas for the application of bonuses for the holders who actively participate in the separation of waste at source, which is of course the exact opposite of Torrevieja who will fine residents, even though they have not provided sufficient bins in places.