The Deputación de Ourense approves the new provincial waste ordinance

The Deputación de Ourense has definitively approved the modification of the provincial ordinance governing the provision of the intermunicipal service for the collection, transport, and disposal of local waste under a delegated competence regime. The approval took place during the plenary session of the provincial corporation on October 30, 2026, after dismissing the allegations presented during the public exhibition, and the full text was published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense (BOP) on November 10, 2026. The regulation comes into force the day following its publication.

The processing began on May 29, 2026, when the Provincial Corporation initially approved the modification. The text was subject to public information for 30 business days via an announcement inserted in BOP no. 103, dated June 3, 2026. The ordinance is developed under the framework agreement approved on June 28, 2024 (BOP no. 127, dated July 2, 2024), to which approximately 65% of the municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants in the province are adhered, delegating all planning and management competencies of the service to the Deputación.

This is a service regulation, not a fiscal ordinance, and is complemented by the fiscal ordinance of the provincial tax, reformulated to adapt to Article 11 of Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy. The text consists of 53 articles structured into three titles—general provisions, collection service, and sanctioning regime—plus two annexes on exclusive-use containers and proximity composting.

Mandatory fraction-by-fraction separation

The articles establish as a user obligation to separate at the source and deposit each fraction in the enabled container or point. The ordinance details the flows and colors of the containers on public roads:

• Light packaging (plastic, metal, and “briks”): yellow container, in closed and waterproof bags.
• Clean paper and cardboard: blue container, folded and cut to occupy the least space.
• Glass packaging: green container or igloo, direct deposit without a bag.
• Bio-waste: in a certified compostable bag or cover, unless otherwise authorized by the Deputación.
• Textiles (clothing, used footwear, and other household textiles), used cooking oils, batteries, WEEE, medicines—in pharmacies—, bulky items, mattresses, pruning waste, and minor construction debris: fixed or mobile clean points, authorized managers, or points of extended producer responsibility systems.
• Residual fraction: gray container, in closed waterproof bags.

The regulation also governs special collection at the request of the user (furniture, mattresses, dead domestic animals, and plant remains), domestic and community composting, and the removal of abandoned vehicles, with a prior 15-day hearing for the owner when identifiable.

Inspection with access to bags and sanctions up to 3.5 million

Inspection personnel and local police officers are considered agents of authority and may access facilities, establishments, and homes without prior notice, as well as identify and open abandoned waste bags. The reports enjoy a presumption of veracity. The sanctioning framework is as follows:

• Minor infractions: up to 2,000 euros in cases of improper delivery or deposit and up to 750 euros for the rest.
• Serious infractions: from 2,001 to 100,000 euros, except for hazardous household waste, which ranges between 20,001 and 600,000 euros.
• Very serious infractions: from 100,001 to 3,500,000 euros, and from 600,001 euros when hazardous waste is involved.

When legislation permits, fines may be replaced by community service or training. Anyone firmly sanctioned for serious or very serious infractions may not receive subsidies from the competent Administration until the sanction is fulfilled and the damage is repaired.

Exclusive collectors, composting, and public events

Annex I regulates collectors for the exclusive use of the residual fraction of affiliated commercial establishments, with weekly collection —twice a week in summer in municipalities with more than 1,500 inhabitants— and the obligation to remove the container within eight hours after emptying. Annex II details individual and community composting in rural areas, with a nominative key and a minimum recommendation of 96 annual contributions per participant.

Furthermore, promoters of public events must implement alternatives to the sale of drinks in single-use containers and cups and guarantee access to non-bottled drinking water, and commercial establishments are obliged to separate packaging, paper-cardboard, and bio-waste at the source, with a joint separation plan in collective venues.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense, November 10, 2026, section I. Provincial Deputation of Ourense (official reference: 353141).