At the end of 2024, reports appeared on social networks that the Spaniards were supposedly forced to pay € 5 to throw out food waste - the only way you can open the appropriate container. We decided to check if this is so.

In the popular Russian-speaking Telegram channels, a 45-second video dispersed: in it, a man approaches the trash and tries to open the one that is marked with the inscription Orgánica. Despite the fact that the hero’s hero twists the lid several times with force, the container does not open. At the same time, an electronic panel is visible on the case, to which, apparently, you need to attach a card so that the tank opens. Video with a comment on the need to pay € 5 for the opening of the container published "Truthfulness"(178,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Putin in Telegram"(176 000),"Voblya • News"(142 000),"Sheikh Tamir"(140 000),"Dmitry Vasilet"(126,000) and other popular channels. Published posts about this resonant innovations and users of social networks: ""VKontakte" X, Threads, Facebook* et al. In some posts, it is noted that soon such a fate will befall the garbage tanks in France.

In 2018, the EU introduced new rules, regulating the separation and sorting of waste in the countries of the Union. After that, in the cities of some regions of Spain (for example, in Vigo, Girona and Burgos) really They began to appear Electronic locks on containers with organic garbage, that is, food waste of biological origin. This is done to simplify waste processing - in this way, the authorities are trying to avoid mixing various types of garbage. It is assumed that residents who are forced to use the card to open such containers will be more conscious of separate collection of garbage and will not throw other types of waste there. Residents of cities can get a map for free and use it not only to open garbage tanks, but also in transport, as well as for access to some other municipal services. In Saragos, for example, cards at all sent By mail to all residents, and they were anonymous. But you can open a container without them using a mobile application.

The innovation, judging by the explanatory articles in the media, really caused some resonance among the Spaniards, but they were mostly concerned about the preservation of personal data. In cases where the cards were not given anonymously, it was not clear to people what information about them was and where it was transmitted. It was not possible to find in the media or on the official portals of the Spanish cities that the use of garbage containers for food waste would be paid. This contradicts the very idea of such containers: the Spaniards are trying to motivate more carefully to sort garbage. The introduction of a fee for access to a certain garbage tank would cause only the opposite effect: people would throw organic waste into other open containers.

The author of the viral video behind the scenes is actually extremely outraged by the fact that he cannot simply open the tank and is forced to apply some cards for this. He scolds (in Spanish) an ecological agenda and even says that all this resembles anti -utopia and dictatorship. However, he does not argue that you need to pay for the use of a garbage container, the video does not mention € 5, appearing in most posts, nor any other amount. At the same time, in the video there is no translation into Russian or at least Spanish -language subtitles. Therefore, the Russian -speaking user, if he does not know Spanish, must make significant efforts to understand what the Spaniard actually is talking about. Judging by the inscriptions on garbage tanks, the viral video was shot in the Spanish Vigo. This city was one of the first to introduce a system of access to organic waste containers on cards. Mayor Vigo Abel Kabalro back in 2020 showed Journalists how to use these cards. There was no question of any payment.

Map PassvigoIt must be attached to open a garbage container in a viral video, and the truth is not free. To get it, you need to apply for a request and pay a certain amount once, however, much more modest than stated in the posts. The cost varies from € 0.39 to € 0.53, pensioners are exempted from this contribution. Passvigo can be used as transport map, visit urban sports complexes and open garbage Containers for organic waste. For travel in transport, the card needs to be replenished (the site provides a link to the corresponding tariffs), but nothing is said about the payment of garbage on the payment of garbage.

In the Spanish -language segment of the Internet video Hanged Back in March 2024. However, there was no one discussed the estimated payment of € 5 - neither in themselves postsNot in the comments under them. The earliest publication in Russian about the need to pay for opening a container € 5 was made on December 26, 2024 at 17:28 Moscow time in the Telegram channel "Significant News Agency"(14,000 views at the time of writing of the analysis). On the same day, similar publications, word for word coinciding with the first Russian -speaking post, appeared in other channels.

Thus, there is no evidence that in any Spanish city for the use of garbage tanks a fee is charged. In the viral video, which has become an info for numerous publications, the need to pay money is not mentioned, but only that to access the container you need to attach a card. At the same time, these are not bank cards from which money can be written off, but city ones - they are issued to residents for free, and in some cases they are completely sent by mail. It could be assumed that the video is not entirely clear which maps are talking about, which is why confusion occurred. However, the specific amount mentioned in posts says, rather, in favor of the fact that the author of the original post in Russian deliberately introduces Internet users into misleading.

Photo on the cover: VIGO. a cidade máis limpa / Facebook

*The Russian authorities consider Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.