Cantabria and Comillas sign agreement for municipal waste collection

The Government of Cantabria and the City Council of Comillas have formalized an agreement whereby the Autonomous Community assumes the provision of municipal waste collection and transport services for the municipality, which lacks the necessary means to provide them adequately. The agreement is published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria number 159, dated August 19, 2026, by resolution of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Public Works, Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment, signed in Santander on August 12, 2026 (reference CVE-2026-6527).

The agreement is framed within the inter-administrative collaboration provided for in Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, and in Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, which assigns waste collection to municipalities as a mandatory service. It is further supported by Law 8/1993, of November 18, on the Urban Waste Management Plan of Cantabria, which obliges the regional Government to provide support to local entities that cannot handle these services.

Signatories and authorization

The agreement is signed, on one hand, by Roberto Media Sainz, Minister of Public Works, Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment, empowered by agreement of the Governing Council on March 5, 2026; and, on the other, by María Teresa Noceda, Mayor-President of Comillas, authorized by plenary agreement on February 2, 2026. The provision of the service will be carried out through the public company Medio Ambiente, Agua, Residuos y Energía de Cantabria, S.A., M.P. (MARE), an internal agency of the autonomous Administration.

Scope of the service

The Autonomous Community will assume the “low-level collection” services, which include the collection and transport of waste to transfer stations or final management plants. The planned services include:

• Collection of the residual fraction and bulky waste.
• Collection of bio-waste, domestic composting, and separate curbside collection.
• Separate collection of packaging and cardboard, including door-to-door collection of commercial cardboard.
• Separate collection of textile waste, agricultural plastics, and used vegetable oils.

The City Council, for its part, will make available the suitable spaces for the service, collaborate in its maintenance, and pay the public prices set by the Government of Cantabria in accordance with Decree 86/2013, of December 26.

Validity and monitoring

The agreement will have an initial duration of 4 years, extendable by mutual agreement for up to 4 additional years, and will become effective once published in the official bulletin. For its oversight, a Monitoring Commission is established, composed of three representatives from the Government of Cantabria and three from the Comillas City Council, responsible for resolving discrepancies and proposing modifications. The agreement is part of the framework agreement signed on March 27, 2025, between the Autonomous Community and the Federation of Municipalities of Cantabria for the provision of these services.

The publication guarantees the continuity of an essential service for the residents of Comillas, which will now depend on the regional waste management network, with unified technical and quality criteria and tariffs regulated by public pricing.

Source: Official Bulletin of Cantabria, no. 159, August 19, 2026, section 7.5 Miscellaneous, page 38507 (official reference: CVE-2026-6527).