Municipal waste refuse disposal taxes are environmental in nature, designed to give incentive to a more respectful attitude toward the environment and to promote measures to minimise and recover materials from waste. These taxes are economic instruments that contribute to financing the cost of implementing sustainable municipal waste management.

• Taxable items: the municipal waste disposal tax applies to the municipal waste sent to public or private controlled disposal facilities.
  The municipal waste incineration tax applies to municipal waste incinerated in public or private incinerators.
  
• Taxpayers: The concept of taxpayer is applied to those local authorities with ownership of municipal waste management services and, where applicable, those that have been delegated authority in accordance with local government legislation, independent of the type of service management.
  Taxpayers are those producers of municipal waste that is not subject to the municipal collection service.
  Substitute taxpayers, who are obliged to fulfil the formal obligations established by this law, are those owners of municipal waste refuse disposal facilities.
  
• Application: The municipal waste disposal tax is applied the moment that the person in possession of the waste delivers it to the controlled disposal facility and the owner of the facility accepts it.
  The municipal waste incineration tax is applied the moment that the owner of the facility accepts the waste from the person possessing it and designates it for incineration.
  
• Tax base: The tax base is the quantity of waste, expressed in tonnes, that is destined for controlled disposal or incineration.
  
• Tax rate: The tax rate is set at ten euros per tonne for municipal waste refuse that is designated for controlled disposal.
  The tax rate is set at five euros per tonne for municipal waste refuse that is incinerated.
  
  For the municipal waste coming from the local entities than have not started the selctive collection of the organic fraction development, in accordance with the deployment project approved by the Agència de Residus de Catalunya:
  • The tax rate is set at twenty euros per tonne for municipal waste refuse that is designated for controlled disposal.
  • The tax rate is set at fifteen euros per tonne for municipal waste refuse that is incinerated.
  
  
• Tax payment period: the owners of public or private municipal waste refuse disposal facilities must make an automated payment to the Agència de Residus de Catalunya during the first twenty calendar days of the month following the quarterly payment period. The quarterly payment periods must correspond with the quarters of the calendar year.
  
• Allocation of revenue. These taxes are earmarked for the Waste Management Fund. The distribution of funds proceeding from these taxes must fulfil the following criteria:
  • Municipal waste flows that are not sent for controlled disposal or energy recovery must be taken into account and considered in accordance with the criteria established by the Municipal Waste Governing Board.
  • A minimum of fifty percent of the funds must be spent on treatment of the selectively collected organic fraction. The remaining resources must be allocated to selective collection of organic material at origin, selective collection and recycling of the other waste fractions, other forms of material recovery and the promotion of awareness-raising, dissemination and environmental education campaigns.

In order to describe specific aspects of the functioning of the tax, the Municipal Waste Governing Board annually approves guides containing the criteria for the application of the tax.