The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has annulled the ordinance regulating the new waste collection tax in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, considering that the amount of €149.33 per household is not properly justified.
The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has put the new waste collection tax in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in jeopardy. The Administrative Litigation Chamber has upheld the appeal filed by the Fundación Canaria Escuelas de Antunez and has annulled the ordinance regulating the tax, which was definitively approved in April 2025.
Judges Jaime Borrás Moya and María Mercedes Martín Olivera believe there are "deficiencies" in the criteria used to quantify the amount of the tax, which amounts to €149.33 per household. The ruling emphasizes that the economic-financial report fails to comply with the Local Finance Act by not justifying the actual cost of the service or the criteria used.
External studies and questioned extrapolation
The TSJC points out that the lack of justification affects both the variable fee for waste generation and the fixed fee of €108.45. In the first case, the ordinance relies on external studies whose application to the reality of the Gran Canaria capital is not explained. In the second, there is insufficient justification for why the technicians attribute the same amount to different categories of users.
The judges agree with the complainant, understanding that the two studies used to prepare the economic report are "insufficient". The first analyses commercial waste generation in Catalonia during 2013, while the second breaks down the habits of waste generation and separation in a sample of households from that autonomous community. The TSJC emphasizes that the report "does not explain why such studies were considered representative" of the reality of the Gran Canaria capital, "nor what the technical reasons were that justified the extrapolation of their results."
The City Council awaits notification
The City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has not yet received notification of the ruling, so it prefers to remain silent. Municipal sources have indicated that they are waiting to analyse and assess the judicial resolution before making a statement. Meanwhile, the City Council has issued 169,000 receipts in the last month, and the impact of this ruling on those who have already made payment is unknown.
The waste tax began to be charged this year in compliance with Law 7/2022, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, which requires all Spanish municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants to have a tax that covers the cost of waste collection, transportation, and treatment services. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria had not applied such a tax since 1989 and only charged for collection from businesses and tourist establishments.
The chamber admits that subsequent reports provided by the municipal technician "may help clarify the process," but they emphasize that this "cannot replace the requirements of motivation, publicity, and information" that should have been provided during the processing of the ordinance. According to the ruling, the report also does not detail the direct effect of these studies on the calculation of the fees, nor how they were contrasted with the available information from the service in the Gran Canaria capital.
For the residents of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, uncertainty is total. Those who have already paid the receipt do not know if they can claim a refund, and those who have not yet done so wonder if they should wait for the City Council to clarify the situation. The TSJC ruling is not final and can be appealed to the Supreme Court, so the future of the tax will depend on the next steps taken by the City Council.
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