BarcelonaThe tax for the collection and treatment of garbage, the waste rate, will rise by an average of 10% in the municipalities of the metropolitan area of Barcelona by 2025. This was confirmed on Tuesday by the metropolitan council of the ‘WITH. This levy, which for families is included in the water bill, serves to finance the treatment of the million and a half tons of rubbish that is generated, 600,000 of which is collected selectively.
In practice, for the vast majority of domestic users (71%) the increase translates into between 2.72 and 6.02 euros more per year, which means less than 50 cents per month for the most common rates . For traders, the rate will increase between 19 and 29 euros per year for 82% of establishments.
The AMB argues that the tax must rise to be able to cover the costs of the service. Currently, the annual costs to treat the waste of the 36 metropolitan municipalities is around 200 million euros and there is a deficit of 15 million. According to the metropolitan authority, this deficit had not surfaced until now “because some of the indirect costs that must be taken into account in the management of waste treatment were not counted”. In addition, they justify, in the last two years there has been no “significant” increase in the rate.
At the same council, the AMB has decided to keep the metropolitan tax the same for 2025, which is in the form of a surcharge on the IBI.
