A new garbage collection fee model will be in effect from January 1, 2026. Residents must submit declarations

• In 2022-2023, the number of Gorzów residents for whom waste fees were charged was 15% lower than indicated by Central Statistical Office data.
• This situation prompted city officials to develop a more equitable solution. This will tighten the garbage collection system and eliminate cases where fewer people are declared than actually living in a given property.
• From January 1, 2026, residents of apartment buildings will pay for waste according to water consumption, and owners of single-family homes will pay according to the number of people.

The current method for determining municipal waste management fees in Gorzów Wielkopolski—based on the number of residents—proved inaccurate. The main problem arose in multi-family housing developments due to rental apartments and the lack of reporting of tenants for municipal waste management fees , reporting only one person when multiple people lived in the same unit, and failing to report the fact that a given unit was occupied, among other things.

Pursuant to the Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Municipalities, it is possible to apply a hybrid (mixed) system enabling the application of different rates depending on the type of development.

After analysing the available options, the city proposed introducing a method for determining fees for municipal waste management and the fee rates:

1. From owners of properties inhabited by residents, in the case of properties with single-family residential buildings, from each resident - in the amount of PLN 38 per month from each resident living in a given property:

- owners of single-family properties inhabited by residents who compost bio-waste constituting municipal waste in home composters are partially exempted from the municipal waste management fee in the amount of PLN 5.

2. Introduction of a method for determining the amount of fees for municipal waste based on the amount of water consumed, in the case of properties with multi-unit residential buildings inhabited by residents - at the rate of PLN 12 per 1 cubic meter of water consumed from a given property:

- if there are service/commercial premises in a multi-family building, declarations will be submitted regarding the waste fee based on the number of containers for these premises.

Additionally, if the water consumption meter of such premises is connected to the main meter of the multi-family building, the manager/community/cooperative will subtract the reading of the meter in the service/commercial premises when completing the declaration and calculating the average monthly water consumption for the part inhabited by residents.

Under the new system, for multi-unit residential properties , the basis for calculating fees will be based on the property's water consumption, not the resident. This will significantly tighten the fee collection system.

The method of determining the fee for multi-unit residential properties, where residents live, based on water consumption, will help reduce negative phenomena, as each person living in such a property, as well as the person staying there, generates water consumption, regardless of whether they were reported by the property owner as a waste producer or whether this obligation was not fulfilled.

- explains the city hall.

When designing the new model, the city assumed that the greater the number of people living in a given property (and therefore the greater the amount of municipal waste generated), the greater the water consumption. Furthermore, water consumption data is confirmed by invoices from the Water and Sewage Company (which can be verified by the Municipal Waste Management Company in Gorzów Wielkopolski), which prevents underestimating the number of people living in a household.

When determining the fees for municipal waste management, the number of inhabitants living in Gorzów, the amount of municipal waste generated and the costs of operating the municipal waste management system were taken into account, including:

• collection, transport, collection, recovery and disposal of municipal waste;
• creating and maintaining selective municipal waste collection points;
• administrative support of this system;
• environmental education on the proper handling of municipal waste;
• equipping the property with containers or bags for collecting municipal waste and the costs of maintaining the containers in an appropriate sanitary, orderly and technical condition;
• removal of municipal waste from places not intended for its storage and disposal (so-called illegal dumps).

Changing the current model means that the residents of Gorzów Wielkopolski will have to submit a new declaration.

In the case of multi-family buildings, the declaration is submitted by the property manager of the shared property—that is, the housing community or housing cooperative. Individual apartment owners do not submit individual declarations. However, they will be charged fees based on the settlement prepared by the manager, explains the website gorzowianin.com.

The new declarations will be effective from January 1, 2026, when the city takes over the system from ZCG MG6. The formal deadline for submitting the declaration is 14 days from that date, or by January 14, 2026.

Gorzowianin.com points out that the city has announced that it will start collecting declarations earlier - in December 2025, immediately after the templates are announced and the electronic system is launched.

Declarations can be submitted in person at the headquarters of Miejskie Odpady Komunalne at 9 Targowa Street, by post or electronically - via ePUAP or e-Doręczenia.

The city has also prepared an electronic declaration template in XML format, which can be completed and digitally signed. You can choose between a trusted profile or a qualified electronic signature.

In Poland, up to 20% of residents may be avoiding paying for waste collection. The Ministry of Culture and Environment is working on a new resident register to tighten the system. However, the current law is clear: the declaration must be updated when the number of residents changes and fees must be paid monthly for each resident. Failure to do so can result in a fine of up to 5,000 PLN.