The municipalities of Barcelos, Esposende, Arcos de Valdevez, Ponte da Barca, Ponte de Lima and Viana do Castelo today rose up against the announced increase in the costs of urban waste management and treatment, considering it disproportionate and excessive.
In a statement, the Barcelos City Council notes that “the six shareholder municipalities of Resulima express their concern and oppose the announced increase in the costs of urban waste management and treatment, which they consider disproportionate and excessive.”
Resulima is the company responsible for selective collection, sorting and treatment of urban waste in the Lima Valley and Lower Cávado, covering the municipalities of Arcos de Valdevez, Barcelos, Esposende, Ponte da Barca, Ponte de Lima and Viana do Castelo, a total of around 311,470 inhabitants.
The municipality states that, according to information from the Regulatory Entity for Water and Waste Services (ERSAR), the costs of treating and disposing of urban waste “are expected to register a very significant increase already next year, as a result of the rise in the Waste Management Tax (WMT) and the tariff charged by Resulima.”
“With a direct impact on the charges borne by the municipalities of Arcos de Valdevez, Barcelos, Esposende, Ponte da Barca, Ponte de Lima and Viana do Castelo, and, consequently, on the urban waste tariffs paid by residents,” warns the municipality.
According to the Barcelos City Hall, “it is foreseen that the waste treatment tariff per tonne will rise in 2027, from €72.33 to €95.88, to which an increase of €5 per tonne of the WMT is added, rising from €40 to €45.”
“Taken together, these values mean that the total costs of the management and treatment of urban waste should rise, per tonne, from €112.33 to €140.88,” reveals the Barcelos municipality, in the Braga district.
In the statement, it reads that the six municipalities recognize that waste collection and treatment have been a constant concern and that there are stringent environmental targets to meet, taking on that commitment without reservation.
“However, they consider it imperative to state clearly that current costs are already unaffordable for families, and that their continued escalation cannot continue to be shouldered, in silence, by those who pay the bill at the end of the month,” they warn.
Facing the scale of the increases and the need to ensure the economic-financial sustainability of the service, “it becomes unsustainable for the municipalities to continue to absorb these costs in full.”
“The municipalities that make up Resulima reaffirm, thus, that they will continue to monitor the evolution of these charges and to develop measures that promote reduction, reuse and separation of waste, seeking to reconcile the sustainability of the service with the protection of families and of the economic agents of the municipality,” the statement says.
But the six municipalities say they demand, “with the same firmness, that the increase in costs not continue to be transferred, without criteria or proportionality, to those who already contribute to a more responsible waste management.”
“Protecting families and meeting environmental targets cannot be conflicting objectives. And the municipalities that comprise Resulima will not allow them to be,” they state.
