For the purposes of this regulation, the following is understood by:
1. Sidewalk (Acera): Section of the right-of-way, located at the ends of the roadway for pedestrian traffic.
2. Stormwater Runoff (Aguas Pluviales): Water from rainfall that runs off on the surface through gutters or sewers.
3. Wastewater (Aguas Servidas): Domestic wastewater that is the result of people's daily activities. It requires channeling systems and treatment in compliance with current regulations. It is also called black water or sewage.
4. Alcaldía Municipal: Highest-ranking administrative body, which holds the status of head of the dependencies, monitors, organizes, and coordinates the functioning of the Municipalidad.
5. Storm Drainage System (Alcantarillado Pluvial): System that collects and disposes solely of stormwater runoff. Composed of catch basins, manholes, headwalls, pipes, and others.
6. Storage: Action of temporarily retaining waste while it is handed over to the collection service, processed for its recovery or change of its characteristics, or disposed of.
7. Real Estate (Bien Inmueble): Any land with or without constructions or infrastructure works.
8. Cleanout Box (Caja de Registro): Box within the sewer system for the purpose of allowing the inspection and cleaning of the drain and channeling the water to the underground pipes.
9. Roadway (Calzada): Surface intended for vehicular traffic comprised between the curb and gutter (cordones de caño), ditches, or drainage trenches and is part of the public thoroughfare.
10. Category: Classification of a taxpayer according to the estimate of waste they generate.
11. Center for the Recovery of Valorizable Waste (Centro de Recuperación de Residuos Valorizables): It is 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 later commercialization. Also known as a collection center.
12. Collector: It is the infrastructure where several underground pipes converge, provided with a manhole cover for the purpose of inspecting the pipes.
13. Compost: Result of the decomposition and stabilization by the action of microorganisms of organic waste through composting processes or anaerobic fermentation.
14. Composting: Technique that allows the aerobic decomposition of biodegradable organic matter in a controlled manner to achieve a product usable as a soil improver.
15. Concejo Municipal: Highest body of the Municipalidad which is composed of a deliberative body made up of council members (regidores) and district representatives (síndicos).
16. Container: Receptacle intended for the temporary storage of non-hazardous waste of domestic, commercial, or industrial origin.
17. Collective Container: Larger volume receptacle intended for the temporary storage of waste from a group of users, located at a common point for them.
18. Taxpayer (Contribuyente): Owner or possessor of a property where the Municipalidad provides public services.
19. Curb and Gutter (Cordón y Caño): Drain for the evacuation of stormwater runoff coming from the roadway, which is located parallel between the edge of this and the sidewalk or green strip of the road.
20. Effective Cost: 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.
21. Water Body (Cuerpo de Agua): Any spring (manantial), river, stream, permanent or non-permanent creek, lake, lagoon, natural or artificial reservoir, peat bog, or freshwater swamp.
22. Final Disposal: Orderly and definitive placement, distribution, and confinement of ordinary waste in a site designed for this purpose.
23. Community Facilities (Facilidades Comunales): Public area planned for the installation of buildings for communal use, whether cultural, educational, health, security, or other having that purpose.
24. Weighting Factor: Value established using the domestic or household unit as a reference.
25. Generation Source: Place where waste is generated.
26. Official (Funcionario): The natural person who, in exchange for remuneration, provides their material, intellectual, or both types of services to the Municipalidad, in a personal, subordinate, and on behalf of another manner, by virtue of a valid and effective act of appointment, involving an express or implicit, verbal or written, individual or collective employment contract.
27. Generator: Natural or legal person, public or private, that generates waste through the development of production, service, commercialization, or consumption processes that fall under municipal jurisdiction.
28. Integrated Waste Management (GIR) (Gestión Integral de Residuos): Articulated and interrelated set of regulatory, operational, financial, administrative, educational, planning, monitoring, and evaluation actions for waste management, from its generation to final disposal.
29. Authorized Manager (Gestor Autorizado): Natural or legal person, public or private, in charge of the total or partial management of solid waste and duly authorized for that purpose by the Ministerio de Salud and this municipalidad.
30. Large Generator (Gran Generador): Natural or legal person that produces large quantities of waste. It includes apartment buildings, condominiums, supermarkets, commercial premises, shopping centers, educational centers, medical centers, public and private institutions.
31. Incentives: Refers to the benefit granted to generators who contribute to correct management, demonstrating minimization and the application of the hierarchy in integrated waste management.
32. Infrastructure: Any work for the development and proper functioning of a community, such as: public roads (paths, highways, streets, avenues), storm or sanitary drainage, aqueducts, electricity, signage, etc.
33. Inspector: Official competent for surveillance, prevention, survey, and inspection, both field and technological, of possible infractions and sanctions to the laws and this regulation.
34. Leachate (Lixiviados): Liquid that is formed by the reaction, dragging, or filtering of the materials contained in the waste and that contains in dissolved form or in suspension substances that can infiltrate soils or run off outside the sites where solid waste is deposited and that can lead to soil and water body contamination.
35. Waste Handling: Set of technical and operational activities of waste management that includes the storage, collection, transportation, valorization, treatment, and final disposal of ordinary, valorizable, and non-traditional solid waste generated in the Canton.
36. Municipalidad: State legal entity with territorial jurisdiction over the Canton. It is responsible for the administration of local services and interests, in order to promote the integral development of the Canton in harmony with the national development plan.
37. License Holder (Patentado): Natural or legal person who has a commercial license to carry out lucrative activities.
38. Plan Municipal de Gestión Integral de Residuos (PMGIR): Instrument that defines the cantonal policy on the matter and will guide the municipal and/or cantonal actions on the subject within its area of competence. It is the result of a planning process that is preferably prepared in a participatory manner by the municipality incorporating the diverse actors of the Canton.
39. Possessor (Poseedor): Natural or legal person who exercises dominion over a property without having a registered title in the Registro Público.
40. Cleaner Production (Producción Más Limpia): Integrated preventive strategy applied to production processes, products, and services, in order to increase efficiency and reduce risks for human beings and the environment.
41. Owner (Propietario): Natural or legal person who exercises dominion over real estate through a public document registered in the Registro Público.
42. PyMeS: Small and Medium Enterprises.
43. Recycling: Transformation of waste through different valorization (valorización) processes that allow its economic and energy value to be restored, thus avoiding its final disposal, provided that this restoration implies a saving of energy and raw materials without detriment to health and the environment.
44. Collection: Action of collecting waste under municipal jurisdiction at the generation sources or recipients, in accordance with what is established in this regulation, to be transported to transfer stations, treatment facilities, or final disposal.
45. Private Collection: 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 Municipalidad in the process.
46. Selective Collection: Separate collection service for waste previously separated at the source that allows certain waste to be valorized.
47. Sanitary Landfill (Relleno Sanitario): Engineering method for the final disposal of waste generated in the Canton in accordance with the Reglamento de Rellenos Sanitarios.
48. Waste: Solid, semi-solid, liquid, or gaseous material, which its generator or possessor must or requires to dispose of, and which may or must be valorized or treated responsibly or, failing that, managed by adequate final disposal systems.
49. Ordinary Waste: Waste of mainly household origin or that comes from any other commercial, service, industrial activity, cleaning of roads and public areas, which have characteristics similar to household waste.
50. Sharp-Piercing Waste (Residuo Punzo-Cortante): Any object with the capacity to penetrate and/or cut tissues, including, among others, 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.
51. Solid Waste: Solid or semi-solid, post-consumer material whose generator or possessor must or requires to dispose of it.
52. Waste Separation: Procedure by which waste is prevented from being mixed from the generating source, which allows it to be disposed of separately, for collection purposes.
53. Separation at the Source: Procedure by which waste is prevented from being mixed from the generating source, to facilitate the recovery of valorizable materials.
54. Waste Management Service: The management of waste under municipal jurisdiction mainly includes the storage, collection, sweeping and cleaning of roads and public spaces, as well as the transportation, transfer, treatment, and final disposal of waste.
55. Municipal Services: Set of solid waste handling services, road cleaning, green area maintenance, and storm drain cleaning provided by the Municipalidad.
56. Collective Storage System: It is a defined and enclosed area, intended for the temporary collective storage of solid waste, awaiting the collection service.
57. Taxpayer (Sujeto Pasivo): Any natural or legal person obliged to comply with tax obligations, as a taxpayer (contribuyente), whether as owner or possessor of land to which the service is provided.
58. Rate (Tarifa): Name given to the mathematical expression representing the cost that the taxpayer (contribuyente) must pay for the effective or potential provision of the public service.
59. Public Service Fee (Tasa del Servicio Público): Tax whose obligation has as its generating event the effective or potential provision of a public service, individualized to the taxpayer (contribuyente), and whose proceeds must not have a destination unrelated to the service, the reason for the obligation.
60. Treatment: Transformation of waste or specific parts into new products or to change their characteristics, such as recycling, composting, mechanical-biological treatment, thermal treatment, among others.
61. Domestic or Household Unit: Structure erected on a property where a waste generator resides.
62. Served Unit: Commerce, institution, or residence to which the service is provided.
63. User: For the purposes of providing the services regulated herein, any natural and legal person who is affected or benefited by the integrated waste management (GIR) services has the category of user.
64. Valorization (Valorización): Set of associated actions whose objective is to give added value to waste for production processes through the recovery of materials and/or energy use and the rational use of resources.
65. Open Dump (Vertedero): Site without prior preparation, where waste is deposited, without technique or through very rudimentary techniques, and in which adequate control is not exercised.
66. Public Thoroughfare (Vía Pública): Any public domain and common use land, which by provision of the administrative authority is intended for free transit, in accordance with the laws and urban planning regulations, and also includes that land that has in fact been intended for public use.
67. Green Area (Zona Verde): Unbuilt public land partially or totally covered with vegetation (grass, trees, or shrubs).
Municipal Powers and Obligations