Waste management and recycling

What is waste?

Waste is any substance or object that is disposed of by its owner or that its owner intends or is obliged to dispose of.

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How is waste classified?

Waste is sorted in accordance with a list of waste harmonised at European level, regulated by Commission Decision 2000/532/EC.

This list is divided into 20 chapters that classify waste based on:

• Its origin (from Chapter 1 to 12 and 18 to 20) or
• Its nature (from Chapter 13 to 17).

Each item of waste is identified by a six-digit code known as the EWC code, marked with an asterisk in the event that it is hazardous waste.

This list may be modified by the EU member states.

In the case of Spain, for example, the EWC codes corresponding to waste from electrical and electronic equipment have been separated and must therefore be identified by an eight-digit code ( Royal Decree 110/2015 of 20 February on waste electrical and electronic equipment).

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Obligations of waste producers/owners

Waste producers/owners are obliged to:

• Process the waste themselves;
• Entrust the processing of the waste to a dealer, an establishment or a company, as long as it is registered;
• Or deliver the waste to a public or a private waste collection operator for processing.

Any such operations must be backed up by documentary evidence.

They are also obliged to:

• Provide the authorised waste disposal operators with the necessary information for its appropriate processing and disposal.
• Provide municipalities with information about the waste that is delivered to them if it has special characteristics and may cause problems during its transport, collection, recovery or disposal.
• Immediately report to the competent environmental authorities any disappearance, loss or spilling of hazardous waste, or waste which, due to its nature or quantity, could harm the environment.

In relation to the storage, mixing and labelling of waste on the production site, the waste producer is obliged to:

• Ensure the waste is stored in appropriate hygiene and safety conditions while it is in their possession.
• Not mix or dilute hazardous waste with other categories of hazardous waste or with other waste, substances or materials.
• Store, pack and label hazardous waste on the production site before it is collected and transported, in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Producers of hazardous waste (with the exception of those that generate less than 10 tons of hazardous waste per year) have the following additional obligations:

• Prepare and send to the Autonomous Community a waste reduction study in which they undertake to reduce their waste production.
• Sign a financial guarantee covering all liability that could arise from their activities, depending on their characteristics, hazardous properties and risk potential.

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Obligations of waste managers

As a general rule, waste managers are obliged to:

• Ensure the waste is stored in the conditions established in their authorisation.
• Post a bond and take out insurance or provide a financial guarantee. In the case of establishments and undertakings that perform hazardous waste processing operations and when required by the legislation regulating certain types of waste or management operations.
• Not mix hazardous waste with other categories of hazardous waste or with other waste, substances or materials. Mixing includes the dilution of hazardous substances.

Establishments and undertakings that carry out waste processing activities must also:

• Process the waste in accordance with the terms of their authorisation and accredit this by means of documents.
• Properly manage waste produced as a result of their activity.
• Deliver the waste for processing to authorised establishments and undertakings and accredit such deliveries by means of documents.

Establishments and undertakings that collect or transport waste on a professional basis must also:

• Collect the waste and transport it in accordance with that established in the transportation regulations, other applicable regulations and contractual provisions.
• During its collection and transport, ensure the waste is properly packed and labelled in accordance with current international and community legislation.

Lastly, dealers and brokers must comply with what is declared in their notification of activities and with the clauses and conditions they have assumed in their contracts.

Dealers are obliged to ensure that a complete treatment operation is carried out for the waste they acquire and to provide documentary evidence to the producer or other initial owner of such waste.

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Authorisations and notifications of waste production and management activities

• Authorisations

  The Autonomous Communities are responsible for authorising waste production and management activities. In particular, they must request authorisation:

  • From the Autonomous Community in which the facilities in which the waste processing activities are to be carried out are located, including storage in the collection area while waiting to be processed and the extension, substantial modification or transfer of said facilities.
  • From the Autonomous Community where the registered offices of the persons or companies that are going to perform one or more waste processing operations are located.

  The authorisations will be granted for a maximum period of 8 years, after which they will automatically be renewed for successive periods. Exception: authorisations granted to facilities that are subject to Law 16/2002 of 1 July , on the integrated prevention and control of contamination, in which the validity term will coincide with that of the integrated environmental authorisation.

   

• Notifications

  Before starting their activities, they must submit a notification:

  • To the Autonomous Community where the establishments and undertakings are located, in the following cases:
    • installation, extension, substantial modification or transfer of industries of activities that generate hazardous waste or that generate more than 1,000 t of non-hazardous waste per year
    • performing of activities that are exempt from authorisation, as established in Article 28 of Law 22/2011 of 28 July on contaminated soil and waste.
  • To the Autonomous Community in which their registered office is based:
    • waste-collection establishments and undertakings with no associated facilities;
    • those that transport waste on a professional basis and dealers or brokers.

  Operators that have obtained authorisation to process waste and that generate waste as a consequence of their activity are not obliged to submit the notification. Nonetheless, they will continue to be considered waste producers for all other purposes regulated by the law.

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Shipments of waste

Cross-border shipments

The entry into and exit of waste from national territory and transit through said territory will be regulated by the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 14 June 2006.

The authorisation of such shipments is the responsibility of:

• The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, for shipments of waste to or from third party countries from outside the EU.
• The Autonomous Communities, for shipment of waste to or from EU countries.

In shipments of waste which, pursuant to the terms of Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 , must be accompanied by the document appearing in Annex VII of said Regulation, the party organising the shipment must provide said document:

• In the case of shipments of waste to or from third party countries from outside the EU, the customs authorities and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
• In the case of shipments of waste to or from EU countries, the competent authority in matters related to the shipments of waste in the Autonomous Community of origin or destination.

Shipments between Autonomous Communities

The transport of waste from one Autonomous Community to another is regulated under Article 25 of Law 22/2011 of 28 July on contaminated soil and waste and its implementing regulation, Royal Decree 553/2020 of 2 June 2020 regulating the shipment of waste within the national territory.

These shipments of waste must always be accompanied:

• By an identification document, for monitoring and control purposes.
• In the event of operators who will be shipping the waste for disposal operations or for the recovery of mixed household waste, hazardous waste and waste to be determined in regulatory terms, they must present a prior notification to the competent authorities of the Autonomous Community of origin and destination, which are responsible for authorising shipments of this type.

Shipments within an Autonomous Community

The Autonomous Communities have the authority to establish the system for monitoring and controlling the shipment of waste in their territory, in all cases taking into account that it must be in keeping with the shipment of waste community system established in Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of 14 June 2006.

In particular, with respect to the identification document, the waste contract and the prior notification in the cases set out in Article 3.2. of Royal Decree 553/2020 of 2 June 2020, for the purposes of objecting to the processing thereof in the Autonomous Community when there are no appropriate facilities in the territory or an alternative solution to processing in the territory has been envisaged in its waste plans.

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Extended producer responsibility

Within the scope of extended producer responsibility, producers of products which, when used, are converted to waste, may be submitted to a series of obligations for the purpose of promoting prevention and improving the reuse, recycling and recovery of said waste.

These measures are established by means of a specific regulatory implementation for each of the waste flows in which the extended producer responsibility is regulated.

At present, the following waste flows are subject to a specific regulation in terms of extended producer responsibility. See legal references:

• Packaging and packaging waste.
• Batteries and accumulators.
• Waste electrical and electronic equipment.
• Used tyres, spent industrial oils and
• End-of-life vehicles.

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Sanctions regime

Article 46 of Law 22/2011 of 28 July on contaminated soil and waste regulates infringements in those actions or omissions that contravene the provisions of the Law. These infringements are classified as very serious (Section 2), serious (Section 3) and minor (Section 4) and give rise to the imposing of some or all of the following sanctions:

a) In the case of very serious infringements:

1. Fine of between EUR 45 001 and EUR 1 750 000, except in the case of hazardous waste, when the fine may range from EUR 300 001 to EUR 1 750 000.
2. Disqualification for the exercise of any of the activities foreseen by this Law, for a period of no less than one year and no more than ten.
3. In cases of infringements classified under paragraphs a), b), e), f), i) and k) of Article 46(2), the temporary or permanent closing down of all or part of the facilities or equipment for up to 5 years, safeguarding, in such cases, the rights of workers in accordance with the provisions of the labour legislation.
4. In cases of infringements classified under paragraphs a), b), e), f), g), i) and k) of Article 46(2), revocation or suspension of the authorisation for a period of no less than one year and no more than 10 years.

b) In the case of serious infringements:

1. Fine of between EUR 901 and EUR 45 000, except in the case of hazardous waste, when the fine may range from EUR 9 001 to EUR 45 000.
2. Disqualification for the exercise of any of the activities foreseen by this Law, for a period of less than one year.
3. In cases of infringements classified under paragraphs a), b), e), f), g), i) and k) of Article 46(3), revocation or suspension of the authorisation for a period of up to one year.

c) In the case of minor infringements, a fine of up to EUR 900 will be imposed. If the waste is hazardous, the fine may be up to EUR 9 000.

In the case of the infringements regulated in Sections 46(2)(l) and 46(3)(m), the body exercising the sanctioning power may also, as an additional sanction, agree on the seizing of the goods, in which case said body will determine their final destination.

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Information for each Autonomous Community

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Information from local authorities

Municipal councils have rules on the management of non-household waste.

Access to the Local Government Map to select the relevant municipality.

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