Talking trash: Cuenca’s new way of paying for garbage collection

A field guide for people who just want to pay and get on with lunch.

In Cuenca, garbage collection used to be one of those civic services that functioned so smoothly you barely noticed it. The truck came with little green men running behind. The bags on the racks disappeared. The fee rode along more or less unnoticed on the electricity bill a bit like an oxpecker on a cow, present, persistent, and rarely questioned.

Then, late in 2025, the garbage charge vanished, not the garbage collection itself, just the line on the bill.

This has led to a small outbreak of confusion (oh, OK, mass hysteria if you insist) across the city, particularly among tenants, landlords, and anyone who prefers civic order over interpretive dance.

A very short history of how we got here
Until recently, Cuenca collected the garbage fee through the electricity bill issued by Centrosur. This was convenient and slightly mysterious, but it worked.

Then the national government decided that municipalities should no longer collect local service fees through electricity billing, perhaps because it reduced revenue. Cuenca, like every other city, had to scramble to find a quick fix.

Responsibility for garbage collection sits with EMAC, which stands for Empresa Municipal de Aseo de Cuenca. Aseo in Ecuadorian Spanish means sanitation, waste, street cleaning, and anything else that can be described by the English word ‘crap’.

EMAC suddenly found itself needing to bill tens of thousands of households directly and of course the switch was not elegant.

The landlord phone call moment
Most tenants learned about this not from EMAC, or a city notice, or a helpful banner on a website.

They learned because the landlord’s wife called.

It was not an angry call and not even a very informative call. It was simply a notification that the garbage fee now existed somewhere else and that, logically, you were expected to deal with it, possibly on the EMAC website.

This call, awkward though it may feel, is actually helpful. Once the landlord has clearly said “you pay it,” the most important question is settled. Timing becomes secondary.

Who bills the garbage now
EMAC now bills the garbage collection fee directly.

For the moment, the amount is still calculated using historic electricity consumption, because that data already exists. This is explicitly temporary. A new formula is promised, eventually.

The problem is not the charge itself, because most people are paying roughly what they always paid. The problem is the transition in how the bills are paid.

How much does garbage collection actually cost
For a typical apartment in Cuenca, the monthly garbage fee is usually in the range of three to six dollars. Smaller apartments and lower electricity usage tend to sit at the lower end and larger apartments or houses pay more, so if you see a number in that general range, it is probably correct. This is not a new tax and it is not a surprise increase. It is the same money routed differently.

The website, in theory and in practice
EMAC has an official website with sections labeled “Servicios en línea” and “Pagos en línea.” In theory, you enter either the electricity contract number or the cédula number of the subscriber tied to the electricity account, see what you owe, and pay.

In practice, the site often produces a spinner that never resolves, or a statement that the page does not exist.

This is not your fault and your browser is not to blame. It is not your internet connection either, though you may want to turn off your VPN. The site simply was never designed to deal with a large number of enquiries.

Trying again at odd hours could work. Early morning. Late evening. Some say that Firefox behaves better than Chromium, but sometimes nothing works at all. This is entirely normal to Ecuadorian digital life.

What tenants should clarify first
Before you do anything else, tenants need to ask one simple question, which is who is paying the garbage fee now?

In many rentals, the landlord used to pay it automatically because it was bundled with electricity, but now it is separate, but a single sentence to the landlord in a Whatsapp message in Spanish can solve this:

Buen dia, ahora que la tasa de basura ya no viene en la planilla de luz, prefieres que yo la pague directamente a EMAC o la manejas tú.

Once that is clear, you are safe.

Visiting an EMAC office in person, if you must
Yes, people are going in person and yes, it has been reported that there are lines.

If you do go, preparation matters more than optimism.

Bring:

• your electricity account number
• your passport or cédula
• the name and cédula number of your landlord if the account is in their name
• cash or a means of payment.

It also helps to write down:

• the last two or three electricity bill amounts
• the contract number
• your contact details such as your cell number, Whatsapp, and email.

(You may find the figures for prior payments in your banking app if you pay bills electronically.)

A very effective trick is to write all this information neatly in one place and take a screenshot on your phone. You can now simply show this to the clerk, which avoids rummaging through papers and dropping your cedula on the floor, reduces misunderstandings, and is especially helpful if your Spanish is rocky.

Over-preparation is rewarded.

What happens if you are late paying
This is the part everyone worries about unnecessarily, but nothing dramatic happens. Garbage collection does not stop. There are no late fees announced and there is certainly no enforcement system that moves faster than the billing system itself. What would they do, stop collecting your garbage and leave an invoice taped to the rack instead?

Balances can accumulate and be paid later. Right now, EMAC knows its own systems are unreliable. You are not expected to perform miracles.

Bank apps and alternative payments
As of now, the EMAC charge does not reliably appear in bank apps such as Banco Pichincha. Eventually it will and one day it will simply show up, unannounced, and everyone will behave as if it was always there and that you should have known. Cooperatives and in-person payment channels are also being added gradually. This is the standard Ecuadorian rollout pattern. Online first. Functional later. So if you want to use your bank app, you will probably have to go to an EMAC office and point it.

The correct Cuenca solution
In Cuenca, bureaucracy is best handled indirectly.

You walk past the office.
You look through the door.
If the line is short, you join and pay.
If the line is long, you go to lunch.

There is always a café or restaurant nearby. This is no accident; it is urban design. By the time the postre arrives, the problem feels smaller. Often it resolves itself entirely a week or two later via an app update.

The bottom line
The garbage fee has not increased and the service has not changed. It is only the billing method that is in flux, so if you are informed, have clarified responsibility, and have made a reasonable attempt to pay, you are doing everything expected of you.

The rest will sort itself out. Preferably after almuerzo.

Postscript: When Charlie finally took the tranvia to garbage central to straighten out the bill, he was waved straight to the front of the line, a small courtesy extended to seniors despite the inconvenient fact that he has often been told he does not look a day over 50. This unearned privilege made almost no practical difference, because the line itself consisted of three citizens, one of whom appeared to be there mainly for company and the other possibly a relative of the security guard bringing almuerzo. The attached photo (2) captures the scene accurately, showing the vast and intimidating queues that locals warn you about.

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