Villena updates waste collection fee, setting it between 67 and 97 euros

The extraordinary plenary session of the Villena City Council held this Friday ratified the modification of the Urban Solid Waste (RSU) collection ordinance to comply with the European standard, which sets a fee ranging between 67 and 97 euros annually, "among the lowest in the province of Alicante," according to the council.

The modification of the fee responds to the compliance with the European Directive 2018/518 and Article 11.3 of Law 7/2022, which establish that the cost of the service must be covered by the users and cannot be deficit.

The new ordinance divides the municipal area into four zones, where different rates will be applied. The new zoning divides Villena into Castillo (68.4 euros), San Francisco (67.26 euros), Urban area (97.01 euros), and Dispersed and Pedanías (74.90 euros).

The new fee keeps Villena among the municipalities with the cheapest waste collection service fees in the province, compared to Elda (98 euros), Benidorm (191.68 euros), Elche (135.46 euros), Orihuela (202 euros), Callosa de Segura (154 euros), or Calpe (178.05 euros).

The RSU and Street Cleaning councilor, Sergio Palao, explained that the objective of this modification was "to comply with the regulation, which all municipalities are obliged to from January 2025, under the principle of polluter pays and aims to force municipalities to conduct campaigns that increase the level of source selection and limit the rejection fraction to the maximum."

Meanwhile, the Finance councilor, Juan José Olivares, explained that the calculation of the fees was carried out by the SUMA technicians based on the actual costs of the domestic waste collection service, considering the upcoming service tender and the update of future service needs.

The councilor believes that future steps in selective collection could allow, once translated into a reduction of the rejection fraction, improvements in the fee in the coming years.