Virtuous Circles

Economic incentives to successfully

promote the separate collection of

municipal waste

Athens, April 8, 2019

Josep Maria Tost i Borràs

Director

Waste Agency of Catalonia

General Info on

CATALONIA

2

CATALONIA 7.53 M

Barcelona Area 3.24 M

Barcelona 1.62 M

31,895 km²

947 Municipalities

42 Regions

31,208 € per cap.

Po

pu

lati

on

Tourists (2017) 26.35 M

Average Stay 4.2 days

Equivalent to 0.30 M To

uri

sm

General Info on

Catalan Waste Agency

• Public Company belonging to

• Own Competences on waste:

• Work areas:

• Linked to: 3

Generalitat de Catalunya Government of Catalonia Ministry of Territory and Sustainability

Municipal Industrial Construction Sanitary Livestock

3,849,168 T 3,618,076 T 2,700,000 T 4,200 T * 19,750,000 T

Legislation Planning Inspection Investment Subsidies Awareness Observatory Soil Protec.

* Groups III & IV

25 years ago in Catalonia...

Catalonia, until 1991: - Waste collection: mixed waste

- Lack of technology treatment

- Waste were thrown into uncontrolled

landfills, were covered or burned without

any control

Vision: - Waste seen as a hygienic-

sanitary problem

- Soil, water & air contamination

- Discomforts and complaints of

citizens

4

Strategic actions in two

environmental areas in Catalonia

• Water • Waste

5

It is a must to act in order to improve the environmental conditions,

reducing the impact on the environment (air, soil and water) and on the

health of people. WASTE ARE RESOURCES. When waste are properly

managed, it becomes an opportunity to generate jobs, reactivate the

economy and tourism and make companies more competitive.

A journey of more than 25 years

Introduction of

Landfill Tax

BIOWASTE

Separate Collection

Compulsory by LAW

First Doot to Door

Separate Collection

Experiences

First PAYT

Experiences

PAYT (Fair Rate)

Compulsory by LAW

Introduction of

Incineration Tax

6

Destinations for Biodegradable Waste

and their Environmental Impacts

• LANDFILL / DUMPSITE

– Generation of Biogas

– Generation of Leachates

– Fire risk

– Affecting vectors (birds, mamals, etc.)

– Loss of Resources (OM, nutrients)

• INCINERATION

– Air Pollution risk*

– Generation of Ashes & Slag

– Loss of Resources (OM, nutrients)

• BIOLOGICAL TRETMENT

– Recovery of Resources >> Compost / Biogas

– Reduction of environmental impacts

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IMPACTS ON

ECOLOGICAL

SYSTEMS

AIR

QUALITY

WATER

SYSTEMS

CLIMATE

CHANGE

SOIL

HEALTH * HCl, HF, SO2, NOX, Heavy Metals, Dioxins, Furans, PCB’s, etc.

Keys to understand the progress of

Catalonia in the field of waste

Keys to the waste policy

• Leadership

• Political and social consensus

• Political will

Legal Tools

Law on waste (6/93 and later)

Law on investment of infrastructures & of

environmental taxation (16/2003 and later)

Budget provision (2004-2016) 1 BILION €

More than 850 M€UR in infrastructures

More than 150 M€UR in subsidies for local

authorities (prevention, separate collection,…)

Waste Agency of Catalonia

An important structure of 200 public employers

working for improving waste management

Separate

Collection of

MSW in

Catalonia

1993 1,4 %

2017 40,0 %

8

Keys to understand the progress of

Catalonia in the field of waste

LEGAL OBLIGATIONS

SEPARATE COLLECTION

TARGETS (In Programmes)

ECONOMICAL TOOLS

• Environmental Taxation

• Tax & Tax Refund

• PAYT (Pay as you Throw)

• Subsidies

PLANNING OF THE NET OF

INFRASTRUCTURES

9

Separate

Collection of

MSW in

Catalonia

1993 1.4 %

2017 40.0 %

A robust and flexible waste

management model

BIOWASTE

Paper-Cardboard

Glass

Light Packaging

Residual WASTE

LANDFILL

Incineration

Selection Plant

Glass Recycling Plant

Paper Recycling Plant

Planta TB FORM

MBT (Mechanical-Biological Treatment) Plants

Bioestablised

Biological Treatment Plant Compost

M

A

T

E

R

I

A

L

S

RE

FU

SE

Transformation of

Carbon-rich refuse

into products like

MetOH i EtOH

PREVENTION

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Product

Waste

How does it work?

Public-Private Partnership

• Infrastructures

Planning

• Technological

Design

• Infrastructure

Investment

• Following-up

• Inspection

• Statistics Reporting

11

Local Authorities

Consortium

• Collection of Waste

– Own service

– Private Company

– Private/Public Part.

• Tender

(Construction + 15

years operation)

– Own service

– Private Company

– Private/Public Part.

• Reporting Data to

ARC

Municipalities

Consortium

• Collection of Waste

– Own service

– Private Company

– Private/Public Part.

• Payment of the

Treatment Fee

• Reporting Data to

ARC

Agreement with Local Authorities Consortium to

promote new infrastructures

Adoption of public prices (Treatment Fees) by

Local Authorities Consortium

Targets PRECAT (2020)

• Separate Collection

• > 60% (Catalonia)

• > 50% (each municipaity)

Resultats Catalunya (2017)

• Separate Collection

• Average CATALONIA 40%

• 244 Municipalities (25,7%) > 50%

• 100 Municipalities (10,5%) > 60%

100 municipis (10,5%)

Separate Collection of Municipal

Waste in Catalonia (2017)

12

DtD implemented in

156 municipalities

February 2018 March 2019

5 municipalities

134 municipalities

17 municipalities

DtD implemented in

204 municipalities

5 municipalities

179 municipalities

20 municipalities

77 municipalities 30 municipalities

Expansion of Door to Door

separate collection in Catalonia

13

39,6 %

40 %

Current Situation & EU Targets 2017 2020 2035

Reciclatge Material 39,6 % 50 % 65 %

Residus a Dipòsit 40 % < 10 %

MSW Management in Catalonia

(Data 2017)

14

40%

60%

61 %

28 % 11 %

Separate collection and composting/digestion of biowaste

Separate collection of biowaste in preparation/implementation

Only limited collection of biowaste

Potential Recycling of Biowaste in Europe: 125 -130 M tpy

Current Recycling of Biowaste in Europe: 30 M tpy

~ 100 Mio. tpy are wasted

Sweden: 105 sites, 0.71 million tons of biowaste

Finland: 20 sites, 0.36 million tons of biowaste

United Kingdom: 220 sites, 3 million tons of biowaste

Netherlands: 70 sites, 3.2 million tons of biowaste

Belgium (VLG): 85 sites, 2,7 million tons of biowaste

Germany: 800 sites, 10 million tons of biowaste

Austria: 700 sites, 1.5 million tons of biowaste

Italy: 240 sites, 5.2 million tons of biowaste

Catalonia: 26 sites, 0.5 million tons of biowaste

Status on Separate Collection of

Biowaste in Europe

15 Source: European Compost Network

THE CATALAN LANDFILL TAX IN

EUROPEAN CONTEXT 1/2

16

Evolution of

introducing tax in

different countries.

2004 in Catalonia

17

The % of Separate

Collection increases

proportionally to the

total charge (fee+tax)

for landfilling

THE CATALAN LANDFILL TAX IN

EUROPEAN CONTEXT 2/2

Treatment Fees of waste management

options in Catalonia (2012)

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37.51 €/T

72.82 €/T

50.17 €/T 50.13 €/T

0.00 €/T

20.00 €/T

40.00 €/T

60.00 €/T

80.00 €/T

100.00 €/T

120.00 €/T

Landfill of mixedMSW

MBT Treatment ofmixed MSW

Incineration of mixedMSW

Biological Treatmentof Biowaste (C / AD)

€ /

T

Number of

Plants 2015 23 12 4 26

+ Landfill Tax (35,6 €/T) + Incineration Tax (17,8 €/T)

Overall Economic Charge = Treatment Fee + Tax

The Carrot & Stick Strategy.

Punishing + Encouraging Policy

Municipalities TAX

Paying Biowaste

Treatment

Plants

TAX

Transfer

TAX

Refund (depending on

the Quantity &

Quality of the

BIOWASTE)

Singular Experience

in Europe

Landfills + Incinerators

27,6 % 11,3 %

MBT Plants (61 %)

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Mechanism of operation of Landfill &

Incineration Tax and of Tax Refund

– Tax 41,3 €/T year 2019 (Landfill) (in addition of the fee)

– Tax 20,6 €/T year 2019 (Incineration) (in addition of the fee)

– Guide for local authorities on Law 8/2008, which include the Criteria

for Tax Refund (yearly reviewed) [2018]:

• BIOWASTE TREATMENT [34 €/T] (without impurities)

• BIOWASTE SEPARATE COLLECTION [10 €/T]·f1·f2 (max. 45 €/T)

• Quality Factor (f1)

• Size Factor (f2)

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[a] > 50,000 inhabitants (23)

[b] 5,000 – 50,000 inhabitants (187)

[c] < 5,000 inhabitants (738)

[a] [b] [c]

Reactivating the Environmental

Taxing to achieve recycling targets

A large agreement has been achieved between ARC & the associations

of municipalities for increasing, in a progressive way, the landfill tax

up to near 50 €/t and the incineration tax up to near 25 €/T in 2020.

It was approved

by the Parliament

of Catalonia in

March 22nd 2017

21

Evolution of Landfill & Incineration Waste Taxing

Evolution of Landfill &

Incineration Tax. 2004 - 2019

560 M€UR since it was created !

537 M€UR (96%) refunded to local authorities ! 22

Tax Rate(€/T) 2004-08 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Landfill Tax 10 10 10 12 12,4 12,4 15,8 19,1 19,1 30,0 35,6 41.3

Incineration Tax --- 5 5 5,5 5,7 5,7 7,4 9,0 9,0 14,5 17,8 20,6

32,2 31,9 32,9 31,5 29,1 28,6

26,5 24,4 22,2 26,9 33,0

33,4

50,4

59,3

73,85

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Mil

lio

ns

€u

ros

Incineradora

Abocador23,6

2019

Income

Forecast

The redistribution of funds raised

through the taxes

42%

27%

2%

4%

13%

7% 2% 3%

Destination of the Taxes 2016

Recollida i Tractament de la FORM

Infraestructures

Caracteritzacions

Despeses de Gestió de l'ARC

Reducció Rebuig Dipòsit Controlat

Reducció Rebuig Valorització Energètica

Gestió REPQ en Deixalleries

Altres Actuacions

Biowaste collection and treatment

Infrastructures

Characterization

ARC’s own expenses

Landfill rejection reduction

Energetic valorization reduction

Material recovering in shipyards

Others

23

24

The use of Environmental Taxation

to Stimulate the Separate Collection

Number of Catalan municipalities with

implementation of Biowaste Separate

Collection, since the approval of Law

on Waste (1993)

Law on

Waste

Law on Waste

(come into force) Landfill Tax

Incineration

Tax

The Future of Environmental

Taxation in Catalonia (2020-2035)

65 %

~150 €/T ~130 €/T Use of Economic instruments and Waste management

Perfomances. European Commission (DG ENV) April 2012 As of 2020, it will be necessary to

continue increasing the Landfil

Tax between 3€/T and 5€/T per

year until 2035 25

Separate Collection.

Biowaste Quality Control

• 1.600 biowaste analysis per year.

• Quantification of:

• Impurities

• Appropriate material

• Biowaste

• Yard waste

• Food wastage

11.0 9.3 9.5 8.7 8.4

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

% Food Wastage

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How it affects the municipalities?

Balance in 7 Catalan municipalities

Municipi 1 Municipi 2 Municipi 3 Municipi 4 Municipi 5 Municipi 6 Municipi 7

3.751 hab. 7.130 hab. 2.026 hab. 776 hab. 5.681 hab. 1.264 hab. 3.136 hab.

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How it affects the municipalities?

Balance in 7 Catalan municipalities

59,5% 59,3% 27,5% 34,4% 56,0% 37,3% 39,9%

Municipi 1 Municipi 2 Municipi 3 Municipi 4 Municipi 5 Municipi 6 Municipi 7

3.751 hab. 7.130 hab. 2.026 hab. 776 hab. 5.681 hab. 1.264 hab. 3.136 hab.

BredaCaldes de

Malavella

Riudellots

de la Selva

Sant Feliu de

Buixalleu

Sant Hilari

Sacalm

Sant Julià del

Llor i Bonmatí

Vilobí

d'OnyarPoblació 3.751 7.130 2.026 776 5.681 1.264 3.136

% Recollida Selectiva 39,94% 37,28% 55,96% 34,36% 27,45% 59,34% 59,46%

% RESTA 60,06% 62,72% 44,04% 65,64% 72,55% 40,66% 40,54%

Cànon Dipòsit Controlat 12.557,89 €- 37.346,01 €- 6.805,66 €- 5.989,03 €- 22.892,23 €- 3.082,70 €- 8.161,50 €-

12.557,89 €- 37.346,01 €- 6.805,66 €- 5.989,03 €- 22.892,23 €- 3.082,70 €- 8.161,50 €-

Retorn de Cànon 11.406,82 € 22.490,21 € 8.838,46 € 5.047,46 € 9.867,98 € 6.006,42 € 11.540,95 €

Recollida FORM 3.656,73 € 8.627,83 € 3.508,67 € 149,07 € 3.582,02 € 2.643,07 € 3.597,52 €

Tractament FORM 3.967,10 € 10.668,55 € 3.811,27 € 166,45 € 6.165,96 € 3.166,79 € 4.744,61 €

Autocompostatge - € 630,00 € 335,00 € 4.720,00 € 120,00 € 60,00 € 245,00 €

Fracció Vegetal 142,99 € 268,83 € 668,52 € 11,94 € - € 136,56 € 1.058,82 €

REPQ 3.640,00 € 2.295,00 € 515,00 € - € - € - € 1.895,00 €

Balanç Cànon - Retorn de Cànon 1.151,07 €- 14.855,80 €- 2.032,80 € 941,57 €- 13.024,25 €- 2.923,72 € 3.379,45 €

Balanç (expressat en €/habitant) -0,31 -2,08 1,00 -1,21 -2,29 2,31 1,08

Impact on citizens (€/inhabitant · year)

% Separate

Collection

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Information Available

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• Waste Agency of Catalonia

• Implementation of Biowaste Separate Collection

• Statístics on Municipal Waste (Generaton & Swparate

Collection): Methodology, table, gráphs, maps, docs

• Statistics on the quality of Biowaste

• Environmental Taxation (Landfill & Incineration Tax)

• Conferences, Studies, publications & other links

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More information...

31

REDUCE, RETHINK, REUSE,

REPAIR, REFURBISH, ETC.

Institutional Communication &

Awareness Campaigns

What have we done until now?

“Els nostres residus, la

nostra responsabilitat”

“Pel medi ambient

fem guardiola”

“El teu petit gest pot

canviar el món”

“El vidre pot tenir

moltes vides”

“Dóna una nova vida

als envasos” “La revolució dels petits

gestos ha començat”

“La revolució dels petits

gestos continua.

Quins són els vostres?”

“Separar bé,

un joc de nens”

2015 2015 2016

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Conclusions (1/2)

• Catalonia is a Mediterranean country with great industrial and tourist

activity. 25 years ago waste management was completely

uncontrolled. The waste was considered just waste. Waste caused

annoyance, citizen complaints and many environmental problems.

• Environment Ministry was created by Catalan Government in 1991.

The Law on Waste passed by the parliament in 1993, created the

Waste Agency of Catalonia and established the obligation of

separate collection of biowaste, which probably is one of the main

fractions of MSW.

• In 2003 the Catalan Parliament approved the Law on infrastructures

financing and the creation of environmental taxation for waste

(Landfill & Incineration Tax).

• Landfill & Incineration Tax, jointly with Tax Refund has proved to be a

good incentive to stimulate prevention and separate collection of

high quality biowaste.

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Conclusions (2/2)

• Catalonia has achieved, on average, 40% of separate collection of

MSW, although there are municipalities and regions, especially when

implemented efficient systems (Door to Door and PAYT) which

reached separate collection rates between 60% and 85%.

• Catalonia has also worked hard on prevention, reuse and preparation

for reuse, achieving a 50% of reduction of single plastic bags in just

few years, also fighting against wastage of food or marine litter.

• But all this successful story has been possible thanks to the joint

work of governments, local entities, companies, universities,

research centers, NGOs.

• The waste management sector represents 7% OF CATALAN GDP,

with more than 1,500 COMPANIES created since 1993, giving JOB

FOR MORE THAN 20,000 PEOPLE, with important potential growth .

• 25 years later, Catalonia has become a reference for MSW

management in Europe. Management of MSW is 100% controlled,

and BEACHES, RIVERS AND FORESTS ARE CLEAN AND ALIVE.

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Thank you very much for your attention !

Merci beaucoup pour votre attention !

Moltes Gràcies per la vostra atenció !

Muchas gracias por su atención !

Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ για την προσοχή

σας!

Agencia de Residus de Catalunya

C/ Dr. Roux, 80 ● 08017 Barcelona

Tel. +34 935 673 300 Fax. +34 935 673 300

josepmaria.tost@gencat.cat

http://www.arc.cat

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