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The way households pay for their rubbish could change in the Region of Murcia under a new waste management plan that puts more focus on recycling and cutting the amount of waste sent to landfill.
The regional government's new Recircula Horizonte 2035 waste management plan will ask councils to move away from flat-rate bin charges and instead introduce systems where households pay according to how much rubbish they produce. Similar to water bills, they want to reward people who recycle more and generate less waste.
The plan has not yet been approved, but if it goes ahead it will set out the Region's waste strategy for the next 10 years.
At the moment, each person in the Region of Murcia produces an average of 481.9kg of household waste every year, slightly above the Spanish average. Although the Region has invested in recycling facilities in recent years, it still relies heavily on landfill and mixed waste collection, leaving it well behind the recycling targets set by the European Union.
According to the report, one of the biggest problems is that too much rubbish is still being thrown into general waste bins instead of being separated at home. This means recyclable materials often have to be sorted later at treatment plants, making the whole process less efficient and reducing recycling rates.
The figures show that around 757,500 tonnes of household waste are generated across Murcia's 45 municipalities every year, but only about 25% of it is ultimately recycled.
The amount of waste that residents separate before it is collected is even lower. The latest available figures from 2024 show that paper, glass, plastic packaging, textiles and biodegradable waste account for just 14.2% of all household waste.
The regional government says that improving recycling starts with households properly separating their rubbish. Still, it also believes more public awareness is needed to help residents and businesses understand how to manage waste more effectively.
Under the proposals, councils would review local waste charges and gradually introduce pay-by-waste systems or similar schemes that encourage households to reduce the amount of rubbish they throw away.
The idea is to move away from everyone paying the same fixed annual charge and instead introduce a fairer system based on the amount of waste each household produces.
While councils would not be required to adopt the new model, the regional government wants local authorities to gradually update their charging systems so they better reflect the real cost of collecting, transporting and treating household waste.
The report also says that increasing recycling could help councils reduce the amount they pay in landfill taxes, easing some of the financial pressure on local authority budgets and, in the long term, residents.
Many councils have already started improving their waste collection services by introducing brown bins for food and organic waste and expanding separate collections for recyclable materials.
European recovery funding has also helped municipalities develop new biodegradable waste collection systems.
The regional government expects €330 million in public and private investment over the next decade to modernise Murcia's waste management system.
The plan also includes further investment in waste treatment plants, including facilities in Cartagena, San Javier and Ulea, allowing them to process more biodegradable waste.
Other proposals include recovering more recyclable materials, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and using organic waste to produce biomethane, a renewable gas created through anaerobic digestion.
The strategy also looks at making waste collection smarter through digital technology, including sensors, user identification systems and other tools that monitor how waste is collected and managed.
Last week, Regional Environment Minister Juan María Vázquez said the regional government has already invested €19.4 million in 68 projects to improve separate food waste collection and expand biological treatment facilities.
The funding has also supported improvements to textile recycling, used cooking oil collection, new recycling centres and mobile household waste collection points, as well as digital waste management projects.
By 2030, the regional government wants every municipality in Murcia to have a separate collection service for used cooking oil.
The plan also includes proposals to improve electronic waste recycling, recover energy from 25% of non-recyclable waste, and make sure the Region has the capacity to treat healthcare waste and sewage sludge across the whole of Murcia.
Images: Archive
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