Rules to prevent, recycle and manage waste in Spain

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law aims to prevent waste generation and to promote, in this order, its reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery, and also regulates contaminated soils, to protect the environment and human health.
2. It applies to all types of waste, except air emissions, radioactive waste and discharges into water. For mining waste, dead animals, non-hazardous farm waste and decommissioned explosives, it only applies to aspects not covered by their specific rules.
3. Powers are divided: the State draws up national waste plans and authorizes transfers to or from non-EU countries; the Autonomous Communities draw up their own plans and authorize, monitor and inspect waste production and management; and municipalities must provide urban waste collection, transport and disposal as a mandatory service.
4. Anyone placing on the market products that become waste may be required to design them to ease recycling, to take charge of managing the resulting waste, or to accept a deposit, return and refund system. Voluntary agreements and cooperation agreements with public authorities are also allowed.
5. Waste recovery and disposal activities need authorization from the Autonomous Community, and so do industries producing hazardous waste. Waste holders must hand waste over to a manager and pay the management costs, and uncontrolled abandonment or dumping of waste is banned.
6. The Autonomous Communities will declare and inventory contaminated soils, and those responsible for the contamination must clean them up and restore them, with joint liability when there are several. Violations carry fines of up to 200,000,000 pesetas for the most serious ones.

Who it affects

• Companies and industries that produce waste, especially hazardous waste: They need administrative authorization, keep records and file annual reports.
• Manufacturers, importers and sellers of products that become waste: They may be required to manage the waste from their products or take part in deposit, return and refund systems.
• Municipalities and local entities: They must collect, transport and dispose of urban waste as a mandatory service, and those with over 5,000 residents must set up separate collection.
• Waste managers: They need authorization, keep documentary records and must meet safety measures for hazardous waste.
• Owners and those responsible for contaminated soils: They must pay for and carry out the cleanup and restoration of soils declared contaminated.

Words worth knowing

Valorización (recovery)

Making use of the resources contained in waste, for example by recycling it or using it to produce energy, without harming health or the environment.

Gestor (waste manager)

A public or private person or entity that carries out waste operations such as collecting, transporting, recovering or disposing of it.

Recogida selectiva (separate collection)

Collecting recyclable and organic materials separately so they can be put to use.

Suelo contaminado (contaminated soil)

Land whose characteristics have been worsened by hazardous human-origin components in amounts that pose a risk to health or the environment.

Nota marginal (marginal note)

An annotation added to the Property Registry next to the record of a property.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries