Reform of municipal waste management Introduction The amendments to the act on keeping the cleanness and order in the municipalities, and to the other acts, came into force on the 1st January 2012. The act introduces a number of changes in the current system of municipal waste management. The reform relates to taking by the municipalities the duties of the owners of inhabited fixed properties, in the range of municipal waste management. In relation to this, the changes are addressed to municipalities, entrepreneurs engaged in collecting and management of waste, and the inhabitants. The new municipal waste management system should start functioning since 1st July 2013. In accordance with the contents of the amended act, keeping cleanness and order in the municipality belongs to its own tasks. This means, in practice, that the municipalities are responsible for disposal of municipal waste collected from the owners of inhabited properties. The solutions introduced by the new act are aimed at reducing the uncontrolled disposal of municipal waste, being finally hazardous to the environment. Besides, the municipalities should specify the charge for waste collection at such a level so that to ensure effective motivation of inhabitants towards segregation of waste. Tasks of municipality in the field of municipal waste management The municipalities have been obliged to organize the collection of municipal waste from the owners of inhabited properties. In the case of the uninhabited property owners, and the municipal waste is produced in their area, the municipality council may, through passing a resolution, decide on collecting the municipal waste. The property owners have been obliged to raise charges for the municipality, where the property is located. A basis to be taken by the municipality for calculation of the charge on the inhabited properties can be: number of inhabitants of a given property, volume of water consumed, or surface area of the flat. 1
In the case of a household, this can be one rate for the entire house. The municipality council, through a resolution, specifies the dates, frequency and procedure for raising the charges. The duty of raising the charges appears in the case of inhabited properties for every month in which the inhabitant stays in the property. In the case of uninhabited properties, and in which the waste is produced, the charge is raised for every month in which the waste was produced in the property. The rules for segregation of municipal waste The best method for segregation of the waste is collecting the individual waste fractions in separate containers. Presented below is a model, four-container method for collection of municipal waste, split into waste fractions. Waste fraction specified as paper Paper or cardboard packaging, Newspapers and magazines, Catalogues, brochures, School and office paper, Books and notebooks, Paper bags, Wrapping paper. Coated paper, foil, carbon paper, Milk and beverage carton, Single-use nappies and sanitary towels, Disposable nappies and pads, Bags for fertilizers, cement, and other building materials Wallpaper, Waste fraction specified as plastics and metals Beverage bottles, Containers for chemicals, cosmetics (e.g. shampoo, washing powder, and liquids, etc.), Groceries wrapping, Plastics caps, Plastics bags, sacs and other foils, Plastics fruit baskets, and those for other products, Polystyrene foam, Beverage, juice cans, Steel cans for food, Iron and non-ferrous metals scrap, Metal caps for bottles, jars, and other containers, Aluminium foil, Cartons for milk and beveragesmulti-material wrapping waste. Syringes, intravenous cannulas, other medical articles, Building and demolition wastes, Non-emptied packaging for medicines, paints, varnishes, and oils, Used cells and batteries, Used electrical and electronic equipment, 2
Waste fraction specified as glass Glass bottles and jars for beverages and food, Bottles for alcoholic drinks, Glass containers for cosmetics. Heat-resistant table glassware, Ceramics, flower pots, Wax-containing lights, Bulbs and fluorescent lamps, Crystal glass, Reflectors, Non-emptied containers for medicines, oils, solvents, Thermometers and syringes, Monitors and TV picture tubes, Window and armoured panes, Car window panes, Mirrors and stained glass windows, Faience and china, Waste fraction specified as green waste Tree and scrub branches, Leaves, flowers, cut grass, Sawdust and bark of a tree, Fruits, vegetables etc. Animal bones, Animal meat and carrion, Edible oil, Impregnated wood, Chipboards and MDF plates Medicine, Animal excrements, Hard coal ash, The other waste is put into the mixed-waste container. The smaller the volume of them the higher reduction of the management costs and the improvement of the natural environment. Good practice in waste segregation. It is necessary to: crush cans, cardboard and plastic packaging before they are put into the container, put into the container only empty packages, without caps and plugs, check marking on the packaging informing what must be done after emptying it. A less preferred method of selective waste collection, e.g. relative to additional costs of further management, is to collect the municipal waste in two containers (for wet and dry waste). This system will be functioning in many municipalities since 1 July 2013. It should be mentioned that the classification of collected waste should agree with the regulation of the Minister of the 3
Environment of 27 September 2001, relative to catalogue of waste. It depends on the statements of the regulation related to keeping cleanness and order in the municipality area, and to morphological composition of the waste being collected. The division into wet and dry fractions may take various forms in the regulation. An extremely important supplement of the system is the point of selective collection of municipal waste. It is to assure collection, from the inhabitants, of the waste the classification of which may raise problems, or the waste, the collection of which at the source may be unjustified from the economic or organizational points of view. The municipal waste types to be transferred to the point of selective collection are: post-repair and building waste, large-size waste (furniture, interior furnishings, etc.), used electrical and electronic equipment (washing machines, radio and TV sets, computers, calculators, etc.), used cells and batteries, past the expiration date medicines, syringes, etc., tyres, hazardous household waste (remains of paints, varnishes, solvents, acids, oils, car cooling agents, etc.). Summary It is difficult to predict, how the waste management system, introduced by the Act on cleanness and order in the municipalities, will be working in practice. Many questions and doubts may appear, for instance on how the municipalities are to control the basis for charge calculation, given by inhabitants, and how it reflects the reality. Who and how is to check that the inhabitant, who declared segregation (and thus pays less for collection), proceeds in accordance with his declaration? Introduction of the new waste management system was a must, but its effective functioning needs time. (JB) 4
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