For the purposes of this regulation, the following definitions apply:
Storage (Almacenamiento): Action of temporarily retaining waste while it is delivered to the collection service, processed for its utilization or change of its characteristics, or disposed of.
Companion Animal: Animal that lives with human beings. For the purposes of this regulation, companion animal shall mean only dogs and cats.
Real Property (Bien Inmueble): Any land with or without constructions or infrastructure works.
Category: Placement of a taxpayer (contribuyente) according to the estimation of waste they generate.
Recovery Center for Valorizable Waste (Centro de Recuperación de Residuos Valorizables): A permanent site for the reception and temporary storage of waste for its valorization, where recoverable materials can be weighed, classified and separated according to their nature for subsequent commercialization. It is also known by the name of collection center.
Compost: Result of the decomposition and stabilization, by the action of microorganisms, of organic waste through composting or anaerobic fermentation processes.
Composting (Compostaje): Technique that allows the aerobic decomposition of biodegradable organic matter in a controlled manner to achieve a product usable as a soil improver.
Concessionaire (Concesionario): Physical or legal person to whom, through an administrative-legal act, the right is temporarily granted to take charge of the sanitation, collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and/or final disposal service of the ordinary waste of the canton.
Container (Contenedor): Receptacle intended for the temporary storage of non-hazardous waste of domestic, commercial or industrial origin.
Collective Container (Contenedor Colectivo): Higher-volume receptacle intended for the temporary storage of waste from a group of users, located at a common point for them.
Service Contract (Contrato de servicios): For the contracting of technical or professional services, by physical or legal persons, the Administration must follow the administrative contracting procedures.
Taxpayer (Contribuyente): Owner or possessor of a property where the Municipality provides public services.
Curb and Gutter (Cordón y Caño): Drain for the evacuation of stormwater from the roadway, located parallel between the edge of this and the sidewalk or green strip of the road.
Effective Cost (Costo Efectivo): for the purposes of this regulation, the effective cost of the work is the sum of the cost of materials, labor, the use of equipment as well as its depreciation, contingencies, administrative and financial expenses, cost of collection, disposal and treatment of solid waste if required, as well as other direct and indirect costs related to the work, plus ten percent (10%) profit for development.
Final Disposal (Disposición Final): Orderly and definitive placement, distribution and confinement of ordinary waste in a site designed for this purpose.
Transfer Station (Estación de Transferencia): Facility that, with the necessary equipment, allows the change of the means of transport of non-hazardous solid waste, from collection units to higher-capacity vehicles for its transport to a treatment facility or to final disposal.
Weighting Factor (Factor de Ponderación): Value established using the domestic or housing unit as a reference.
Generation Source (Fuente de Generación): Place where waste is generated.
Generator (Generador): Physical or legal person, public or private, that generates waste, through the development of productive, service, commercialization or consumption processes that are under municipal jurisdiction.
Comprehensive Waste Management (Gestión Integral de Residuos, GIR): Articulated and interrelated set of regulatory, operational, financial, administrative, educational, planning, monitoring and evaluation actions for waste management, from its generation to final disposal.
Authorized Manager (Gestor Autorizado): Physical or legal person, public or private, responsible for the total or partial management of solid waste and duly authorized for this purpose by the Ministry of Health and this municipality.
Large Generator (Gran Generador): Physical or legal person that produces large quantities of waste. Includes apartment buildings, condominiums, supermarkets, commercial premises, shopping centers, educational centers, medical centers, public and private institutions.
Incentives (Incentivos): Refers to the benefit granted to generators that contribute to correct management, demonstrating minimization and the application of the hierarchy in the comprehensive waste management.
Inspector: competent official for the surveillance, prevention, survey and inspection, both field and technological, of possible infractions and sanctions to the laws and this regulation.
Commercial License (Licencia comercial): Municipal license to carry out commercial activities.
Leachate (Lixiviados): Liquid formed by the reaction, dragging or filtration of materials contained in waste and that contains in dissolved form or in suspension substances that can infiltrate soils or runoff outside the sites where solid waste is deposited and that can give rise to contamination of the soil and water bodies.
Waste Management (Manejo de Residuos): Set of technical and operational activities of waste management that includes storage, collection, transportation, valorization, treatment and final disposal of the ordinary, valorizable and non-traditional solid waste generated in the Canton.
Licensee (Patentado): Physical or legal person that has a commercial license to carry out lucrative activities.
Municipal Patent (Patente Municipal): It is a tax obligation that arises as a consequence of the exercise of lucrative activities that were previously authorized by the municipal corporation when granting the commercial license.
Municipal Plan for Comprehensive Waste Management (Plan Municipal de Gestión Integral de Residuos, PMGIR): Instrument that defines the cantonal policy in the matter and will guide municipal and/or cantonal actions on the subject within the area of its competence. It is the result of a planning process that is preferably prepared in a participatory manner by the municipality incorporating the various actors of the Canton. It must incorporate the elements established in Article 22 of the General Regulation to the Law for the Comprehensive Waste Management No. 37567-S-MINAET-H:
Possessor (Poseedor): Physical or legal person who exercises dominion over a property without having a title registered in the Public Registry.
Cleaner Production (Producción más limpia): Integrated preventive strategy applied to productive processes, products and services, in order to increase efficiency and reduce risks for human beings and the environment.
Owner (Propietario): Physical or legal person who exercises dominion over real property through a public document registered in the Public Registry.
Recycling (Reciclaje): transformation of waste through different valorization processes that allow restoring its economic and energy value, thus avoiding its final disposal, provided this restitution implies a saving of energy and raw materials without prejudice to health and the environment.
Collection (Recolección): Action of collecting waste under municipal jurisdiction at generation sources or receptacles, according to what is established in this regulation, to be transported to transfer stations, treatment facilities, or final disposal.
Private Collection (Recolección Privada): Any collection process carried out directly between a generator and a waste manager within the territory of the Canton, without the direct participation of the Municipality in the process.
Selective Collection (Recolección selectiva): Separate collection service for waste previously separated at the source that allows certain waste to be valorized.
Sanitary Landfill (Relleno Sanitario): Engineering method for the final disposal of waste generated in the Canton in accordance with the Sanitary Landfill Regulation (Reglamento de Rellenos Sanitarios).
Waste (Residuo): Solid, semi-solid, liquid or gas material, from which its generator or possessor must or needs to dispose, and which can or must be valorized or treated responsibly or, failing that, be managed by adequate final disposal systems.
Ordinary Waste (Residuo ordinario): Waste of a domestic nature generated in homes and any other source, which presents compositions similar to those of homes. Waste of special or hazardous management is excluded.
Sharps Waste (Residuo punzo-cortante): Any object with the capacity to penetrate and/or cut tissues, including, medical-surgical instruments; laboratory articles, dental instruments, as well as general-use articles: such as light bulbs (all types), fluorescent tubes and all types of metal and plastic staples and bands.
Solid Waste: Solid or semi-solid post-consumer material from which its generator or possessor must or needs to dispose.
Waste Separation (Separación de Residuos): Procedure by which waste is prevented from being mixed from the generation source, which allows it to be disposed of separately, for collection purposes.
Separation at Source (Separación en la Fuente): Procedure by which waste is prevented from being mixed from the generation source, to facilitate the utilization of valorizable materials.
Waste Management Service (Servicio de Gestión de Residuos): The management of waste under municipal jurisdiction mainly includes the storage, collection, sweeping and cleaning of roads and public spaces, as well as the transport, transfer, treatment and final disposal of waste.
Municipal Services: Set of services for solid waste management, road cleaning, maintenance of green zones and cleaning of stormwater sewerage that the Municipality provides according to its capacities.
Collective Storage System (Sistema de Almacenamiento Colectivo): It is a defined and closed area, intended for the temporary collective storage of solid waste, awaiting the collection service.
Taxable Subject (Sujeto Pasivo): Any physical or legal person obliged to comply with tax obligations, as a taxpayer, whether as the owner of a land to which the service is provided.
Rate (Tarifa): Name given to the mathematical expression representing the cost that the taxpayer must pay for the effective or potential provision of the public service.
Public Service Fee (Tasa del servicio público): Tax whose obligation is generated by the effective or potential provision of a public service, individualized to the taxpayer, and whose product must not have a destination unrelated to the service, which is the reason for the obligation.
Treatment (Tratamiento): Transformation of waste or specific parts into new products or the change of characteristics, such as recycling, composting, mechanical-biological treatment, thermal treatment, among others.
Served Unit (Unidad servida): Residence, institution, commerce and industrial to which the service is provided.
User (Usuario): For the purposes of providing the services regulated herein, any physical and legal person that is affected or benefited by the GIR services has the category of user.
Usufructuary (Usufructuario): Physical person who holds a real right of enjoyment of a movable property belonging to another person.
Valorization (Valorización): Set of associated actions whose objective is to give added value to waste for productive processes through the recovery of materials and/or energy utilization and the rational use of resources.
Open Dump (Vertedero): Site without prior preparation, where waste is deposited, without technique or using very rudimentary techniques, and where adequate control is not exercised.
Public Road (Vía Pública): Any publicly owned and commonly used land, which by provision of the administrative authority is designated for free transit, in accordance with the laws and regulations of urban planning, and also includes land that has de facto been destined for public use.
Green Zone: Unbuilt public land covered partially or totally with vegetation (grass, trees or shrubs).
Municipal Powers and Obligations