Valuable rubbish goes to waste in Warsaw
By Ruth H.
Jønsrud - Newswire Norway
According to Norwegian consultants, around 80 percent of
Warsaw's household waste can be recycled. However, their waste management
program has stalled due to a shortage of local funding.
Work on the plan began in 1996, with political support from the
Polish Ministry of the Environment and financial support from the
Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT).
The initiative for a complete waste management program for Warsaw
came from a Norwegian company, Interconsult. Zarzad Oszyczania Miasta,
the municipal waste management body, commissioned them to jointly
develop the project.
One site for all waste
In 1996 the municipal waste treatment plant in Warsaw handled
over 600,000 tons of waste. Of this, around 900,000 kilos were environmentally
hazardous.
"In Warsaw, all waste is sent to landfill sites. Industrial waste,
household waste and special waste all go to the same site, with
the attendant environmental risks that it brings", says project
leader Harald A. Damhaug of Interconsult.
Once the initial funding was in place, it took a year for the
joint project to be approved by the national and municipal authorities.
A great deal at stake
The plan covers household waste.
It highlights the potential environmental gains to be made by sorting
paper, glass, metals, plastics and other materials for recycling.
"We had a useful working relationship with the municipal waste
department, and really got to know their system for the collection,
transport and treatment of waste", explains Damhaug.
The project revealed that 82 percent of all waste in Warsaw could
be recycled. Over one third is organic waste which can be composted,
while around half is otherwise recyclable.
Solutions for the future
"We set a target for how waste management should look in ten years
time. Then we examined what could be done in the meantime", says
Damhaug.
The plan proposed ways to reduce waste, and how to recycle, collect,
transport and treat waste. It also included proposals for treating
environmentally hazardous materials and dealing with landfill sites
that had closed or were illegal.
"The main change would be an increase in recycling. We believe
it is possible to recycle 50 percent of household waste more or
less immediately. And by 2010, this figure could rise to around
80 percent", says Damhaug.
In his view, one of the most important challenges for Warsaw will
be to prevent organic waste going to landfill sites. Leached organic
waste is one of the biggest pollutants of ground water. "All the
environmental measures in our plan are designed to reduce discharges
into the air, water and earth", says the project leader.
Useful experience
The waste plan was finalised in 1997, but has still not been implemented
as Warsaw failed to produce a plan of action. This, according to
Damhaug, was due to several reasons, such as changes in personnel
and shortage of funds.
"We stayed in contact with Zarzad Oszyczania Miasta for a year
after completing the report, but nothing happened. On reflection,
we should have focused more on mutual obligations when we started
working together", he concludes.
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