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New tax in Madrid: the waste charge will start being collected in September
From September, Madrid residents will have to face a new bill: the waste charge. This municipal tax, which will be paid in a single instalment on its first collection, will represent an annual cost ranging from €45 to €574 depending on the neighbourhood and the property’s cadastral value.
Madrid City Council has justified the measure under Law 7/2022 on Waste and Contaminated Soils for a Circular Economy, which requires municipalities to finance the costs of collecting, transporting and treating urban waste. The charge will apply compulsorily to all properties, residential and non-residential. The amount is calculated on the basis of three variables: a fixed basic charge according to the property’s cadastral value, a waste-generation charge, and a separation-quality coefficient, which measures how well each neighbourhood recycles. Under this formula, a €120,000 flat in Arganzuela, for example, will pay around €129, while in areas such as El Plantío (Moncloa-Aravaca) the figure will reach €574 a year.
Differences between neighbourhoods have sparked controversy. While around €45 will be paid in San Cristóbal (Villaverde), the figure in Recoletos (Salamanca) will exceed €430. Más Madrid criticises the fact that southern districts, in addition to housing the incinerator and other facilities, bear a proportionally greater burden in the supplementary charge. The matter has reached the courts. The main opposition party filed a claim with the High Court of Justice of Madrid in May, arguing that the measure works as “a disguised second IBI” and that its purpose is merely to raise revenue. They also allege that illegal tourist homes are not covered by the new charge.
From 2026, payment may be made by direct debit, but this year all Madrid residents will have to pay the new charge in a single bill that will make September’s uphill stretch even steeper for many.