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Restrictions in CO2 emission rights and the implementation of the ECs 3×20 programme are a big challenge for Polands economy. Also dramatically mounting are problems with waste management and processing, where years of negligence have put Poland in the EU tail.
To-date experiences in EU countries show that waste-generated energy is cheapest and waste incineration generates 2-3 times less pollution than traditional fuels. In the EU heat-processing installations for communal waste are considered an environmentally neutral CO2 source.
On January 1, 2009 environmental fees rose by one-third, the extra cost to be carried by urban and rural communities. The hike was necessary as Poland must not only store but also reclaim and process increasing amounts of waste. Today more than 90% of Polands bio-degradable waste lands on dumping grounds and is not processed at all. The EU has demanded that by 2010 no more than 75% percent of such waste be dumped unprocessed.
This is necessary not only in order to avoid horrendous fines, but also because communal waste is a good energy source. And, unlike traditional fuels, an inexhaustible one as waste is a permanent by-product of our civilisation.
National Waste Management Plan
In 2004 Poland produced 11.8 million tons of communal waste annually, of which 92% was stored, 2% composted and 5% came under selective waste-collecting schemes. Only 0.5% of the waste was heat-processed.
Table 1
Reclaimed and neutralized communal waste in Poland /GUS/
2000 2004 2006
Selectively collected waste
13,000 Mg 243,000 Mg 403,000 Mg
Bio-processed waste
300,000 Mg 279,000 Mg 297,000 Mg
Heat-processed waste
50,000 Mg 44,000 Mg 45,000 Mg
Storaged waste
11,800,000 Mg 9,500,000 Mg 9,300,000 Mg
The last 5 years saw the emergence of new organic waste composting and sorting plants. Recycling was also on the rise. Nothing, however, was done to upgrade the heat-processing of communal waste. As before, the countrys only incineration plant is the small ZUSOK unit in Warsaw.
In keeping with Article 5.2 of EU Directive 99/31, Poland undertook to reduce its bio-degradable waste. The reduction is to take place in three stages: by the end of 2010 stored communal waste should account for no more than 75% of the total bio-degradable waste produced in 1995. By the end of 2013 this should be down to 50%, and by the end of 2020 to no more than 35%.
Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013
Waste incineration plants are included on the indicative list of the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013 and will be the key projects in a scheme aimed to improve the national communal waste management system in keeping with the environmental obligations laid down in Polands EU Accession Treaty.
Table 2
Regional Development Ministry Indicative List: PLN million
1. Communal waste management, Łódź
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