Waste Fee on Mallorca: What the Tasa de Basuras Costs

The waste fee on Mallorca has changed noticeably over the last two years: many municipalities have recalculated their tasa de basuras, and in quite a few places the bill has become considerably more expensive. The reason is not a local decision but an EU directive on the circular economy, which Spain implemented with its own waste law. If you own or live in an apartment or finca on the island, you should understand how the fee works, because it is now a fixed item among the running and operating costs on Mallorca.

What is the tasa de basuras?

The tasa de basuras is a municipal waste fee in Spain. It covers the cost of collecting, transporting and treating household waste and is set by each municipality. Since the reform brought in by the Spanish waste law, it has to cover its costs and follow the polluter-pays principle, so it can no longer be cross-subsidised from the general municipal budget.

The legal basis is Article 11 of the waste law Ley 7/2022 of 8 April 2022: since 10 April 2025 at the latest, municipalities with more than 5,000 residents must charge a specific, separately itemised and non-deficit waste fee. The law transposes the EU circular economy directive. For many municipalities on Mallorca this meant one of two things: either there was no dedicated waste fee before, or it only covered part of the real cost. Both had to be corrected, and that is exactly why bills have gone up in so many places.

One point worth clarifying: the tasa de basuras is not the property tax. The IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles) is based on the cadastral value and is due regardless of waste collection. Both charges often arrive in the same period, though, which regularly causes confusion.

Who pays: occupant or owner?

The logic of the law is the polluter-pays principle: the person liable for the fee is whoever produces the waste, meaning the occupant of the property. In practice, municipal bylaws almost everywhere arrange it so that the owner receives the notice as substitute debtor (sustituto del contribuyente) and is liable to the municipality. The owner may, however, recover the amount from the occupant.

For the typical situations on Mallorca this means:

• Owner-occupier: You are occupant and owner at the same time and pay the fee directly.
• Landlord: The notice comes to you. Whether you can pass the fee on to the tenant depends on the rental contract; an explicit clause on this is common and permitted.
• Tenant: Without a contract clause, the owner pays in the first instance. If the contract says the fee is passed on, the tasa de basuras is part of your annual running costs.
• Second home: The fee is due even if the property sits empty for months. What counts is the availability of the collection service, not actual use.

In residential complexes, billing sometimes runs through the comunidad, for example when containers are shared. How the owners' association distributes such costs is explained in our guide to property management and the comunidad.

What does the waste fee cost on Mallorca?

There is no single fee for the whole island; each municipality passes its own bylaw. After the changeover, 165 to 200 euros per household and year is typical. Smaller municipalities in the interior are sometimes below that, while tourist-heavy coastal municipalities with high disposal costs are sometimes above it. Holiday rentals and businesses pay their own, higher rates almost everywhere.

The amount depends on criteria that each municipality sets itself. Common ones are:

1. Type of use: an apartment, a holiday rental, a restaurant or a shop are classified differently.
2. Location and zone: central or tourist zones often pay more than scattered rural locations.
3. Size or cadastral value of the property as a proxy for the amount of waste.
4. In some municipalities: measured residual waste or collection frequency, for example via chipped bins or personalised bags.

In the long run, that is exactly where the law wants to go: whoever separates well and produces little residual waste should pay less. Some municipalities on Mallorca already work with door-to-door collection and individual recording. How waste separation works in practice on the island, from the brown organic bin to the Punt Verd, is covered in our post on waste disposal on Mallorca.

Check the notice and file an appeal

In many municipalities on Mallorca it is not the town hall itself that sends the notice, but the Balearic tax agency ATIB, which handles collection on behalf of the municipalities. The voluntary payment period is usually in autumn, together with the IBI and the vehicle tax. Here is how to check the notice:

Do I have to pay the tasa de basuras even if I hardly use the property? Yes. The fee is tied to the provision of the collection service, not to the actual amount of waste. Even a second home that is occupied for only a few weeks a year pays the full annual rate of its municipality.

Conclusion

On Mallorca the tasa de basuras has gone from a minor item to a noticeable annual charge: typically 165 to 200 euros per household, with a clear trend towards usage-based models. The occupant has to pay, the owner usually receives the notice, and in the case of a rental the contract decides whether the fee is passed on. Check every notice against your municipality's fee bylaw and file an appeal within one month if there are errors. How the fee fits into your overall cost planning is shown in our overview of running and operating costs on Mallorca.