Managing business waste

No. Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole is in charge of managing household waste, and under certain conditions, waste from economic activities that do not require special technical requirements (L2224-14 and R 2224-28 of the CGCT).

Any producer or holder of waste is responsible for the management of this waste until its final disposal or recovery, even when the waste is transferred for treatment to a third party (Article L541-2 of the Environmental Code).
Any economic player is therefore responsible for the management and treatment of its waste.

The special fee corresponds to payment by professionals, producers of assimilated household waste, for collection and treatment services provided by the public service.

Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole can provide collection services for public and private establishments (including certain associations), which produce assimilated household waste* and whose volumes do not exceed 5,000 liters/week.

No. Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole no longer handles the collection of waste from economic activities, due to several obligations imposed by changes in national and European regulations:

• Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole is only responsible for the collection and treatment of Assimilated Household Waste (Article L2224-13 of the Code Général des Collectivités Territoriales) and non-household waste assimilable to household waste (Article L2224-14 of the Code Général des Collectivités Territoriales).
• Article L541-2 of the French Environment Code: any producer or holder of waste is responsible for managing this waste until its final disposal or recovery, even when the waste is transferred to a third party for treatment.
• Sorting according to 9 specific streams: establishments producing more than 1,100L/week of waste, all streams combined, have an obligation to sort according to the following "9 streams": paper/cardboard, metal, plastic, glass, wood, mineral fraction, gypsum, textile, bio-waste.
• Waste recovery certificate: Waste producers must be able to present, during inspections, the regulatory waste tracking documents, issued by the operator of the facility that recovers the waste and by the collector who transports or trades.

To comply with these regulations, companies must organize themselves to ensure, through a service provider of their choice, the collection of their waste from economic activities.

In 2024 and early 2025, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole is gradually phasing out the collection of economic activity waste in the Zones d'Activités Economiques.

The first Zones d'Activités Economiques affected by this cessation of collection are those of Villeneuve-Lès-Maguelone and Saint-Jean-de-Védas (since 18/03/2024).

In the first quarter of 2025, all businesses in the Zones d'Activités Economiques (economic activity zones) on the Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole territory will be affected by this cessation of collection of waste from economic activities.

They will have to use service providers of their choice to ensure the collection and disposal of their economic activity waste.

Yes, this waste is collected via Points d'Apport Volontaire (PAV) set up on the outskirts of business parks, in order to maintain the collection of only assimilated household waste that companies may produce.

These PAVs are in no way a substitute for obligations in terms of managing so-called professional waste. Companies must therefore approach, without delay, the service providers of their choice, who will provide the most appropriate collection service depending on the waste stream produced.

*Assimilated household waste includes waste from economic activities that local authorities can collect together with household waste, in view of their characteristics and the quantities produced, without any particular technical constraints (article L. 2224-14 of the French General Code of Territorial Authorities).

Download the non-exhaustive list of approved private collection service providers collecting various business waste streams in the column opposite.

You can call on several private service providers depending on the different business waste streams produced by your company.

Yes. We advise you to pool your requests between neighboring companies to private service providers, so that collection rounds can be grouped and collection costs reduced.

The household waste collection tax (TEOM) is a direct tax added to the property tax and is based on the rental value of the dwelling occupied. It is the main source of funding for the public household waste collection and treatment service. The amount of the levy does not depend on the service provided, and can therefore tax buildings that do not produce household waste, as well as property owners who do not actually use the service (unlike the special fee).

As the latter is not linked to the service provided, exemption is not possible for a company that does not use the public collection service. In fact, the TEOM finances the public waste management service in order to have clean cities and reduce the environmental impact of waste.

Professionals who have a contract with an approved private service provider will not have to pay the special fee, provided that they are able to produce proof of this care for all their waste (including waste assimilated to household waste), such as a copy of the annual collection contract and invoices for year N-1.

No. No new yellow or grey bins will be issued to businesses operating in the Zones d'Activités Economiques (economic activity zones). The producer or holder of waste may use the voluntary drop-off points (bins, overhead, semi-underground, or underground columns) available within the limit of 1,100 liters of waste, all flows combined per week and provided that sorting instructions are respected.

For efficient waste management, consult Ademe's 9 flux brochure.

Before throwing away, think about reuse! Find the non-exhaustive list of players in the field of reuse on the territory of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole in the column opposite.

Raise awareness among your suppliers about:

• Reusable packaging they could use and recover;
• The implementation of a deposit system;
• Waste reduction at source.