With a fine of 300 euros per business, the Barcelona City Council fined 500 businesses for poor waste management. That is, for taking them to the street outside the established hours, for not separating them and causing the “overflow” of the containers.
The penalty of 300 euros is for failure to comply with the aforementioned guidelines. And, in addition, for using the municipal waste circuit despite the fact that the businesses have their own or a privately contracted one.
It was also clarified that the fines may be higher if the owners of the businesses repeat the non-compliance.
The decision was taken after some 40,000 educational and informative visits to almost 26,000 commercial establishments, restaurants and bars in five districts of the city.
In addition, the City Council argues that although the waste problem is generated by only 1% or 2% of businesses, the impact of non-compliance is very large.
And the impact is not only visual, but also the accumulation of garbage generates viruses and pests. Not to mention that it is a wrong behavior that is beginning to be imitated by nearby stores.
The sanction campaign began in September in the districts where information campaigns had already been carried out: Eixample, Ciutat Vella, Sant Andreu, Gràcia and Sant Martí.
Poor waste management: a bad habit of citizenship
For his part, Eloi Badia, councilman for Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition, says that the behavior of businesses and citizens is attributed to bad habits. However, inspectors will continue to be active in detecting non-compliance.
Likewise, in the rest of the districts of Barcelona, a first informative phase will begin on how to use the containers correctly by the businesses.
The informative visit will be carried out from January once the Christmas campaign is over and will start in the stores of the other five districts of the city not yet visited. These include Les Corts, Sants-Montjuïc, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Horta-Guinardó and Nou Barris.
About commercial collection
According to the Barcelona City Council, the city’s businesses and economic activities must manage their waste correctly and in a mandatory manner.
This is established by Law 6/1993 and Legislative Decree 1/2009, of July 21, which establishes the regulation of waste in Catalonia by all commercial and service establishments.
There it is determined that they must carry out adequate management by separating waste by fractions and using the collection methods established for each zone.
Most of these commercial establishments pay for a collection service. The price paid varies according to the type of activity and class, as well as the volume of waste generated.
