SPECIAL LAW ON THE COLLECTION, RECOVERY, AND FINAL DISPOSAL OF WASTE
By virtue of the enactment of the Special Law on the Collection, Recovery, and Final Disposal of Waste, ANDRES (the National Authority for Solid Waste) was established to comprehensively regulate the management, collection, transportation, recovery, and final disposal of waste nationwide, ensuring that such activities are carried out in a sanitary and environmentally safe manner.
This law applies to all natural and legal persons, whether public, private, mixed-economy entities, and other government institutions generating any type of waste within the national territory, including consumers.
One of the principles of this law is “the polluter pays”, meaning that every natural or legal person is directly responsible for the waste they generate and must therefore bear the costs associated with its management, handling, any resulting contamination, and the remediation of any damage caused.
For the purposes of this law, solid waste is understood to mean any material, substance, object, or item in solid, semi-solid, liquid, or gaseous form contained in receptacles or containers that is discarded, abandoned, or intended for recycling, recovery, or reuse. Additionally, a Comprehensive Waste Management Manual is understood as a document that establishes the context, responsibilities, objectives, waste management plan, resources, operational controls, and information system.
For the purposes of the law, the following types of regulated waste are recognized:
General Waste: Any organic or inorganic material, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, that may be subject to recovery or transformation into a new product.
Recoverable Waste: Any material, object, substance, or element that has no direct or indirect use value for the generator but can be incorporated into a productive process or other form of value recovery.
Commercial Solid Waste: Waste generated by establishments such as stores, warehouses, hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, markets, supermarkets, and similar businesses.
Special Handling Solid Waste: Materials or products discarded through industrial or commercial activities that, due to decomposition, deterioration, expiration, or non-compliance with the law, require controlled treatment and final disposal to ensure environmental protection.
Household or Domestic Solid Waste: Garbage, waste, or refuse generated in residential dwellings.
Industrial Waste: Waste generated as a result of industrial activities, production processes, and similar operations.
Inorganic Waste: Any type of non-biodegradable waste that, due to its chemical characteristics, undergoes a prolonged natural decomposition process under normal conditions.
Mixed or Composite Waste: Waste consisting of two or more different types of materials whose separation is not technically or economically feasible at the point of generation. This may include combinations of organic and inorganic waste, or different types of inorganic waste (such as plastics, metals, glass, etc.) that are physically attached or mixed in such a way that segregation would require additional processing.
Organic Waste: Waste that is biodegradable in nature, such as food waste derived from vegetables, fruits, and animals.
Hazardous Waste: Waste or mixtures of waste that present a significant risk to public health or the environment, either immediately or over the long term.
Institutional Solid Waste: Waste generated by public or private entities such as ministries, government agencies, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, administrative offices, and any other similar organizations as a result of their operational, administrative, educational, or service-related activities.
Non-Recoverable Waste: Any organic or inorganic material or substance originating from domestic, industrial, commercial, institutional, or service activities that offers no possibility of recovery, reuse, or reintegration into a productive process. Such waste is considered to have no commercial value and therefore requires treatment and final disposal, generating disposal-related costs.
The Authority will verify that each type of waste receives the appropriate treatment through the municipality, mixed-economy companies (such as MIDES, for example), or any other entity dedicated to such activities. Municipal governments are generally responsible for the management of solid waste. The law establishes minor, serious, and very serious sanctions to be imposed by ANDRES for the improper handling of solid waste.
We hope this opinion is helpful. Should you have any questions or require further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at aportillo@lexincorp.com.
