The European Union does not ban all landfilling in 2035, but it restricts it heavily: at most 10 % of the municipal waste generated may go to landfill, and from 2030 Member States must endeavour to ensure that waste suitable for recycling or other recovery is not accepted. In Spain, Waste Law 7/2022 and its landfill tax already make every buried tonne more expensive. Preparing means reducing the rejects that go to the landfill cell and giving them an outlet with value before cost forces you to do it in a hurry.
What exactly the EU requires: Directive (EU) 2018/850
Directive (EU) 2018/850 amended Directive 1999/31/EC, the European landfill directive, as part of the 2018 circular economy package.
The 10 % limit in 2035
Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that, by 2035, the amount of municipal waste landfilled is 10 % or less of the total generated, by weight. It is a binding target, not a recommendation.
The restriction from 2030
From 2030, Member States must endeavour to ensure that waste suitable for recycling or other recovery, in particular municipal waste, is not accepted in landfill. The only exception is where landfilling delivers the best environmental outcome. The directive itself asks for these measures to be included in waste management plans.
Other rules worth knowing
- Separately collected waste: waste collected separately for reuse or recycling must not end up in landfill.
- Limited extension: a Member State that landfilled more than 60 % of its municipal waste in 2013 may postpone the deadline by up to five years. In return it must give 24 months’ notice, submit an implementation plan and reach at least 25 % by 2035.
- How it is counted: rejects from sorting or mechanical-biological treatment plants that end up in landfill count as landfilled municipal waste. Passing the waste through a plant is not enough if the result ends up in the same cell.
- Transposition: Member States had until 5 July 2020 to incorporate it into national law.
How it translates to Spain: RD 646/2020 and Law 7/2022
Spain has incorporated these obligations through two main pieces of legislation. Together they set an interim timetable and an economic instrument that is already in force.
Royal Decree 646/2020: the landfill timetable
Spain’s Royal Decree 646/2020, which regulates the disposal of waste by landfill, sets three milestones for municipal waste landfilled as a share of the total generated:
| Date | Maximum municipal waste to landfill | Legislation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2025 | 40 % | RD 646/2020, art. 8 |
| 1 January 2030 | 20 % | RD 646/2020, art. 8 |
| 1 January 2035 | 10 % | RD 646/2020, art. 8 (Directive 2018/850) |
The directive only sets the 2035 end point; the royal decree requires the path to be covered in stages.
Law 7/2022: recycling and bans
Spain’s Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy adds targets for preparing municipal waste for reuse and recycling of 55 % in 2025, 60 % in 2030 and 65 % in 2035. It also bans incinerating or landfilling waste collected separately for reuse or recycling, and requires whatever is landfilled to have undergone prior treatment.
The landfill tax
Since 1 January 2023 Spain has applied a special tax on the landfilling, incineration and co-incineration of waste. It is levied on the delivery of waste for disposal or energy recovery. Some relevant national rates, according to the Spanish Tax Agency:
- Municipal waste in non-hazardous waste landfills: 40 euros per tonne.
- Municipal waste rejects in non-hazardous waste landfills: 30 euros per tonne.
- Incineration of municipal waste: between 10 and 20 euros per tonne depending on the type of operation and waste.
Spain’s autonomous communities (regions) can increase these rates for waste treated in their territory. Catalonia is the clearest case: its rate for untreated municipal waste sent to landfill or incineration rose to 75 euros per tonne in 2026 and will go up by 5 euros each year until it reaches 100 in 2031. In the Basque Country and Navarre the tax is governed by their own foral (regional tax) regimes. We go into these per-tonne costs in detail in the real landfill cost per tonne up to 2030.
Where Spain stands against the target
The starting point is demanding. In the early warning report published by the European Commission in June 2023, with 2020 data, Spain landfilled 52 % of its municipal waste, more than double the EU average. Its municipal waste recycling rate was 36.4 %.
The Commission placed Spain among the Member States at risk of missing the 2025 recycling target and recommended that it fully apply landfill restrictions. Going from half to a tenth requires new treatment capacity, not just better collection.
What changes for landfills, waste managers and industry
For all of them, buried waste becomes a growing cost and a risk.
Landfills and large waste managers
- Fewer acceptable tonnes in the medium term, with more pressure on the rejects fraction.
- A per-tonne tax added to the gate fee, with room for regional increases.
- Cells filling up with no clear alternative for the waste that arrives afterwards.
For these operators, the challenge is to turn a liability into a business line. We cover it in pyrolysis for landfills and large waste managers.
Industry with captive waste
Companies that generate large volumes of non-recyclable plastic pay for external management and the tax passed on to them. In addition, their customers increasingly ask for traceability and circularity data. Treating the waste at source changes the equation; we explain it in pyrolysis for industry with captive waste.
Public authorities and concession holders
Municipalities, consortia and concession holders are accountable for landfill targets. They need solutions with limited technical risk that fit into long-term contracts.
How to prepare: a five-step roadmap
- Measure the real rejects. Quantify the annual tonnes that go to the cell today, their composition and their variability. Without this figure no solution can be sized.
- Calculate the full cost per tonne. Add up gate fee, national or regional tax, transport and use of the cell’s service life. Project it to 2030 with the increases already approved.
- Separate what is recyclable from what is not. Mechanical recycling should be the first option. The problem lies in mixed, dirty or multilayer plastic that mechanical recycling rejects.
- Choose a recovery route for those rejects. Chemical recycling complements mechanical recycling and makes it possible to treat fractions that currently have no outlet. Note: incineration is taxed too.
- Secure financing and an outlet for the product. A plant only solves the problem if it is financeable and its output has a buyer. That is where many projects fail.
The role of pyrolysis in a zero landfill strategy
Plastic waste pyrolysis breaks plastic down with heat in the absence of oxygen and turns it into pyrolysis oil, gas and char, products with industrial uses. It acts on the plastic fraction of the rejects, the one that takes up volume in the cell and has no market in mechanical recycling. Every tonne diverted stops paying tax and consuming capacity.
How Nantek solves it
Nantek has operated an industrial plant in the Port of Bilbao since 2022, where it has validated its technology with plastics from different sources. Its process is thermal pyrolysis without catalysts, with proprietary reactive agents, and it accepts mixed plastic without prior sorting by type.
- Modular plants from 1,500 to 16,000 tonnes a year, sized to the volume of rejects.
- Turnkey EPC with fixed scope and price.
- Structured financing of up to 70 % of the project.
- O&M with remote control and proprietary software.
- Offtake: guaranteed purchase of 100 % of the product with long-term contracts.
- Environmental credits: certification management with part of the net profit passed on to the client. Nantek’s website shows ISCC, ISCC PLUS and CGN certifications, and ECHA registration.
One example is Córdoba: in 2025 Nantek signed an agreement with Sadeco (the city’s municipal waste company) and the City Council for a first phase of 16,000 tonnes a year (€22M), with a planned expansion to 54,000 tonnes a year and a total investment of €65M.
More regulatory context: the PPWR and recycled content targets for packaging in 2030 and the state of chemical recycling in Spain.
Frequently asked questions about zero landfill by 2035
Does the EU ban all landfilling in 2035?
No. Directive (EU) 2018/850 limits the weight of municipal waste that can go to landfill in 2035 to 10 %. Landfilling will continue to exist, but as a residual option.
What happens in 2030?
The directive asks Member States to endeavour to ensure that waste suitable for recycling or other recovery is not accepted in landfill. In Spain, RD 646/2020 also sets a maximum of 20 % of municipal waste to landfill in 2030.
How much is the landfill tax in Spain today?
The national rate is 40 euros per tonne for municipal waste and 30 euros for its rejects in non-hazardous waste landfills. Autonomous communities can raise it; Catalonia applies 75 euros per tonne in 2026 to untreated municipal waste.
Do rejects from a sorting plant count as landfill?
Yes. Under the directive’s calculation rules, rejects from sorting or mechanical-biological treatment that end up in landfill count as landfilled municipal waste.
Is Spain meeting the target?
With 2020 data, Spain sent 52 % of its municipal waste to landfill, according to the European Commission. The gap to the 10 % target for 2035 is large and requires new recovery capacity.
If you manage a landfill, a concession or a significant volume of plastic waste, the time to size the alternative is now, not in 2034. Tell us about your case and we will work out with you how many tonnes you can divert from the cell and under which model.
