Landfill disposal: the simplest, but one of the worst solutions

Unfortunately, “waste management” mainly means establishing new landfills (or incinerators) in Hungary. That is why the two mentioned organisations were observing the establishing process of these landfills and incinerators. In the followings, a short summary is given of the experience we gained during the project:

The whole country is a waste dump

In Hungary, the majority of waste of municipalities are disposed. In the country approximately 2700 landfills are operating, but only 1/3 of them meet basic environmental standards. At least 1000 landfills are situated on environmentally sensitive or wet territories without any technical protection. The landfills are not registered; the data are based on estimations. Their size, technical standards, their capacity, the quantity and the quality of the disposed waste are unknown.

In the past years, the government, after having seen the intolerable situation of the management of municipal waste, started to support the establishment of regional landfills. It wants to achieve a controllable waste disposal in 3-5 landfills of every county, altogether 80-100 modern landfills that would be established and operated with the help of local governments. According to this plan, a new landfill can be operated only by the required technical protection, and only if it accepts waste of 80 000 inhabitants. Due to this program, which started five years ago, 20-25 landfills have been established so far.

The theoretical priorities and practice

There is no debate on the opinion that the present practice of waste management can not continue. More than 1000 landfills must be shut down, illegal waste dumps spoil the landscape, selective waste management has just started, and the recycling of municipal waste is still undeveloped. There is a big need for recycling and recovery meeting the environmental standards. Particular small regions and the consortiums of local governments realise this need. The hierarchy of waste management (prevention, recycling, recovery, disposal) is mentioned many times, but practice shows a different picture. Recent investments, similarly to future investments, are reflecting a sceptical point of view of the state that minimizing the quantity of waste or even keeping it on a certain level can not be achieved. This view questions the sense of waste prevention and so it’ s not acceptable for HuMuSz.

We understand the pragmatic reasoning of present projects: without them Hungary would lose the subsidies from the European Union. Indeed, in our opinion, not everything should be subordinated to this view.

We are afraid that small, local initiatives and progressive strategic conceptions are constantly overruled by the ISPA-projects (forced by state, as well) resulting in big and ecologically untenable systems.

Technology

In our country mostly landfills have been built, but recently there has been more consideration of investments in incineration. The projects – due to the logic of the ISPA subsidies – are complex, which means that selective waste management and recovery, and composting belong to the system, as well. But the emphasis is always on false (technological) solutions, and if the budget of the project decreases, it is always the recycling is damaged. There is not much talking about the selective treatment of inert waste, though by 20-30% smaller landfills could be built if masses of homogeneous, inert waste were handled separately. If there is composting in the program, almost everywhere large, regional technological solutions are considered. Yet, the establishment of huge, central composting institutions unnecessarily increase the distance of waste transport.

Unfortunately, possibilities of regulating trade and encouraging a more eco-responsible consumer behaviour in order to prevent waste generation is not even considered during the progress of planning. Of course, this can not be blamed on the concrete investors, but it can be blamed on the consortiums of local governments and especially on the state, that directs the ISPA-projects!

The use of “the best available technology” is a general principle. Therefore, the insulation and the compression of waste on landfills, the recovery of gas from waste-piles, etc. must be achieved with the most modern methods. Yet, the “principle of precaution” warns against the usage of new technologies that are not well known and recommended. However, the mechanical-biological treatment, which is already operating in Hajdúböszörmény (East Hungary), is not widely known yet. According to experts, the operation should work besides composting (meaning only if the population collects organic waste separately), but, for example, composting is not included in the program in Hajdúböszörmény.

Choosing the sites of the landfills

It will be more difficult to find the suitable sites for waste management investments. Professional misgivings are expressed almost everywhere, and it has become more and more common that the population protests at an emotional, “visceral” level without even listening to arguments. Even an unqualified citizen knows the importance of standpoints of the landscape. This can cause conflicts especially in areas where tourism plays an important role.

Unfortunately, sometimes even the licensing authorities do not care about regulations. For instance, the writers of a study put a very sensitive territory into a different category, and the responsible environmental inspectorate issued the license based on the former decision. Moreover, since then the second-rate authority has approved the license.

A vital element in the waste strategy of the European Union is the “principle of proximity”. This means that landfills e.g. should be established in the area where much waste is generated. Due to this principle, reasonable distances of transport are developed; it becomes easier to find qualified employment, etc. The reason why a small village should accept the waste of the neighbouring city and the environmental risk that comes with it can not be explained easily. Yet, in Hungary authorities have tried to do it several times.

It would be also important not to start greenfield investments, but to link projects of environmental protection with rehabilitating aims. It means that landfills should be established on closed industrial sites. It will be easier to have these sites accepted by the inhabitants since they have already been used for industrial purposes.

Transparency

The method of the present practice of choosing a site (someone point at the map, then a study is written and the population’s opinion is required following these) is very much objectionable. There is no guarantee for the investor that people will approve the chosen site, so with this operation they take a risk from the beginning. To check more potential sites, to make an analysis regarding the effects or a study on the consequences of the landfill establishment would be important. Obviously, this will increase the expenses, but it is worthy regarding the future of the projects. To the right decision also social discussions should be organized. Due to the involvement of inhabitants further conflicts with the population and the civil organisations might be avoided.

The local waste management plans and special investments are under the ruling of the Aarhus Convention, so social discussions must be carried through accordingly to the Convention. Nevertheless, in many cases the investor makes an effort to keep everything secret until the very last minute, tries to get territories, gets the local public body to put the particular territory into another category, promises pavements, streets, schools, drains in order to enjoy the support of the inhabitants. This proves to be working in many cases, because smaller local governments in particular are short of money and they are glad to receive every kind of aid.

Source of money

Although, waste management is the task of local governments, they do not possess the money for it. The sources of the ministries dwarf besides the costs in need. The forms of support from the European Union remain, but to attain these requires a serious and qualified apparatus – this is also a big problem for many local governments. The European Union is following the principle of concentration, which means that it supports complex regional projects. From an environmentalist point of view, these regions are three or five times bigger than the reasonable size. It imposes a great burden on the Hungarian state that should pay 30% of the necessary amount of the project, but many times the 10% own capital from the local governments or the 8-10% of the preparation of the project seems to be an unsolvable difficulty.

The private capital enters the situation here and often causes strange relations. The essence of the process: the consortium of local governments founds an economic organisation in which the theoretical majority of the power belong to the government, but practically the firm that provides the money has the influence (usually this firm obtains the right to operate the landfill). Since private interests are in the background (and we are talking about operations that bring great profit!), in several cases there is a battle between firms above the heads of the population, rivalling companies are trying push each other out using “civil organisations” and groups of inhabitants.

At the end of the project, EMLA and HuMuSz summarised the expert judgement and legal analysis of the regional waste management in a small publication. It also contained some suggestions on the planning process of investments concerning waste. The last chapter of the publication gives some suggestions to green organisations on how to solve local problems regarding environment protection.