Landfills shutting down in Hungary – a civil opinion

You can read in more detail about this in the press release of National Environmental, Nature and Water Protection Authority (Környezetvédelmi, Természetvédelmi és Vízügyi Főfelügyelőség) :http://www.orszagoszoldhatosag.gov.hu/index.php?akt_menu=83&hir_reszlet=255 On the basis of HuMuSz data the counties of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Nógrád, Tolna, Baranya, Bács-Kiskun, and the north region of Pest county are the most affected by the shutting down process. A link for our map:http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=hu&msa=0&msid=1107353318126406... In addition to its observations, HuMuSz also proposes a sustainable solution on the following. What could be the factual reason for the delay? It's been known by the city councils since 2001, that this year landfills not up to par with EU norms will have to be shut down, and yet they have not got ready for this in the eight years. The weakness of environmental organs – which can in part be attributed to less money allocated from the budget – contributed to the fact that this topic was put on hold in the past years. In the case of the city councils the lack of serious sanctions was only an encouragement so that they do not take care of the framework for waste management, and in many small settlements of course the lack of resources created a problem. Within the framework of our now ongoing Zero Waste Program we came in contact with numerous city councils and in a few model settlement we began developing sustainable waste management plans, supporting the work of the city council, local non-profits, and the residents. Our previous experience shows that amongst city councils there is often lack of information on this field. It's a fact, that there are not a lot of sources through which they could find possible methods that have worked in other places. In many places they don't see the goals clearly, that their foremost task is the prevention of waste – in other words sustainable consumption and production, as well as the urging and practising of reusing. It’s only then when the unavoidably forming waste's recovery comes next in line, and its basis is selective collection. The last priority of the EU waste frame reference as well as the domestic regulations is to render the waste harmless, that is incineration and disposal. Compared to the EU average, we are seriously behind considering the proportion of these. (see graph) Expected consequences Yearly Hungary generates 70-80 million tons of waste, from which 4.5-4.8 million is municipal solid waste. It is unlikely that if so far 150 ladfills have worked, from now on half of this will be up to the task. If so, then the question is: why was there a need for that many so far? According to the authorties only 20% of waste should be diverted. If this is so, then it's baffling that for that 20% why they maintained 90 landfills that are harmful for health and environment. The other issue is the duration of time: it's possible that they can temporarily solve the diversion, according to previous information from the Ministry we only have landfill capacity for the next 5-6 years. The development that has not even begun in some places could theoretically (!) meet the demands till 2020, so this does not bring any long term solution either. A drastic rise of waste fees can be expected. Since 2001 waste dumping fees must be estimated so that it covers the entire cost of waste handling, including the recultivation and after-care of the landfills. Recultivation – meaning the covering of the landfill, the putting of earth and plants on the top – has been in the process with 1100 landfills for years now. The unexplainable answer for this lack of speed is lack of resoures. After-care means that whoever operates the landfill must observe for 25-30 years the chemical processes occuring therein and provide safe insulation. This costs a lot of money, and we can hardly think that the fees that were so far kept low can cover these expenses. Yet, according to the guidelines, they should. We're paying for this now dearly and we are facing the fact that there are serious costs to the placing and handling of our waste. For one 110 l waste container the lowest price is 4.210 HUF/year, the highest price: 25.120 HUF/year. The Ministry also affirmed that cost hikes amounting to tens of thousands can be expected in certain residental areas. The current waste fee system doesn't in the least urge residents they lessen – in accordance whith the EU priority – their waste. The waste fee is for the entire volume of the waste bin and not for the waste actually produced. The second serious problem is the intensive spread of illegal dumping which is not only polluting and harmful to health, but ruins current results achieved. In 2007 the second 1% of the income tax could contribute to the shutting down of illegal dumps, and so 34 thousand taxpayers offered one percent of their tax for a value of 250 million, making it possible to shut down hundreds of illegal landfills. There is a new application this year, now for budgetary sources, which serves the same goal. The problem with illegal dumping is not only aesthetic, but often they place dangerous waste that is costly to dump, as well as household machines an electronics that do not fit into the waste bin. These dangerous substances wash into the soil with moisture which the plants of the farmlands suck up, and we eat the result. There is an enormous amount of construction and demolition waste, for which there has not been a satisfying solution so far, but now there is an urgent problem as many landfills used for this purpose have also been shut down. For example in Budapest there's absolutely nowhere to take construction waste. According to the authorities, the responsibility for the operation of these is not theirs, nor the city council's job, the recycling should be solved by the industry of construction. According to official information the average distance will be 50km. This sounds good, but there are so many residential areas which will have to endure transportation distances of 80-100, that will heighten logistic costs. It occurs even now, that smaller city councils are unable to join up with the new waste management systems, as the waste fee has grown to such proportions. Another part of this is the write-off of high value equipment. In many places they called to attention that illegal dumping has risen after they installed the new regional landfills! Another problem with the illegal landfills is that on the basis of centralization they can get a serious upper hand most commonly over the lower populated residential areas, of which, again, the residents will suffer the consequences. The real solution The real solution is undoubtedly the helping along of waste prevention, reusing and recycling. Yearly we produce 450-480 kg waste per person which is a lot. 30% of this is organic material, kitchen leftovers, yard waste, which can be composted. City councils can require funding for composting programs, which is in their interest, since the effective 2001 waste management law also says, that the bio-degradable part of municipal waste in landfills by 16th of July 2006 must be 75% of the amount in 1995, by 2009. July 16 50%, and by 16th of July 2016 35%. It needn't be said that with this we're also not doing well. Out of the compost techniques the cheapest and the most environmentally friendly is home composting, which is functional not only in houses with a yard. Cultured composting frames can be set up but in the yards of neighbouring houses, apartment complexes, common areas of housing projects. A sustainable municipal waste strategy's basic element past the composting program is the environmentally conscious shopping and production, the urging of reusing and recycling, and the minimization of incineration and dumping. In the case of shopping and production, awareness, public polls, he promotion of the local industry in both selling and buying. The goal of reusing with the support of repair shops, small industry and commerce of used goods, the management of swap shops and reusing centres, and the goal of reusing with the cooperation of the participants of the recycling market can be realized. The participants of Zero Waste Program in model residental areas are striving for an effective bringing forth of the above. Selective collection currently only gives a solution to 20% of municipal waste. According to foreign experiences, in a recycling depo form everything can be made clear, and even with a promotional campaign only 30% at the most can be reached. House-to-house selective collection, on the other hand, can make possible the reusing of 40-60% of waste. It's advisable to combine this with making packaging returnable, which is another area in which we are up against the EU practice, since there is barely anything like this at home, but in the EU the proportion grows from year to year. The scope of the domestic reusing market should be engineered to match the volume of waste produced, and build on it the industry that processes secondary raw materials that are produced this way. This would create jobs, and we wouldn't have to export a significant portion of our waste, generating further pollution with the transportation. The key to the lessening of waste is the waste fee that differentiates by weight, which through the opportunity to save money would encourage residents to produce less waste. In the Danish waste fee system, for example, the waste transport truck measures the weight of waste it collects from the bins. It adds up these data from the data it collects from a chip built into the bin (owner's name, address). The information gathered this way is sent to a central database, and billing is sent on this basis. There would be immediate need for sorting stations near open residential areas, waste parks, even mobile sorting devices that are known to the public and drivers, which would bring down the amount of „lost-cause” waste that end up in landfills. Lack of data Unfortunately there are no public data about the concrete capacity of landfills despite the fact that the data is public record. The latest reachable data is from 2005. Who operates these landfills? We can see an assortment of folks amongst the operators: from public utilities there are some smaller domestic companies, and a few years back foreign companies with large-scale capital started to entrench, who are contracted for the waste transportation of entire counties and regions, and sometimes operate numerous landfills. Rules Rules referring to landfill creation. http://www.kvvm.hu/szakmai/hulladekgazd/tervezes_seged/ts_3fej.htm Further info: Graczka Sylvia E-mail: [email protected] Mobil: +36 20 509-5544 Translation: Gergely Ortutay