The poorly chosen location and unbearable smell make you search for the truth: Does Kaunas really need an MBA factory?

MBA timeline:

• The Kaunas Regional Waste Management Center (hereinafter Kaunas RATC) started its activities in 2005. March 2
• Shareholders of the Public Institution Kaunas RATC in 2010 on September 10 approved the request for financing for the period 2007-2013 Instrument of EU Structural Funds VP3-3.2-AM-01-V “Development of a waste management system” .
• The building permit for Kaunas MBA was issued in 2014. September 23, when the city was ruled by the then mayor Andrius Kupčinskas (the current heads of the Kaunas city municipality did not participate in the decision).
• Kaunas MBA was launched in 2016. in January.
• Project budget: 34,441 million. of which 29,244 million euros 5,196 million euros from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union. The project implementer, the Kaunas Region Waste Management Center, contributed to the implementation of the project. Specifically, the construction value of Kaunas MBA amounted to LTL 24,672 million. euros.

Now you can only guess why it was decided to build an MBA in Kaunas, but due to this completely reckless decision, the residents of Kaunas, Ramučiai, Karmėlava and other districts close to the factory became hostages of their own residence – unpleasant odors emanate constantly from the factory. Unbearable odors and health threats often can’t get your feet out of the house.

The dissatisfaction of the affected population and the constant complaints from environmentalists are already known both by the heads of the current Municipality of the city of Kaunas and by the Ministry of the Environment, but so far no measures have been taken, since in This plant does not exceed the standards for odors and contamination.

Inefficient use of waste

So if it’s not an unbearable smell, maybe inefficient performance is the answer to whether an MBA is necessary for the city?

2019 According to data from the Kaunas region, MBA facilities process about 140 thousand. tons of mixed municipal waste. The temporary capital waste here accounts for 64%, this service costs around LTL 9 million for the entire Kaunas region. 5.5 million euros for the urban population. euros.

However, after processing 140 thousand. tons of mixed municipal waste, only 1250 tons of recyclable secondary raw materials are classified, which is less than 1%. of the total amount of waste. In monetary terms, the figures speak for themselves: after realizing 9 million. 78 thousand euros of classified recyclable secondary raw materials are obtained. income. Meanwhile, 1 ton of classified recyclable waste costs the population 7,200 euros.

“We already have a fairly well-developed primary waste sorting system in Kaunas. Already at this initial stage, recyclable plastic, cardboard, paper, glass, metal, textiles and green waste are separated from the mixed municipal waste stream and collected separately. 99 percent. The mixed municipal waste that enters the MBA remains unsorted: it is not suitable for recycling, so it is not convenient to transport it to the MBA for economic, environmental or public health treatment. That 99 percent. waste that enters the MBA after treatment costs 9 million. In the end, it is still disposed of in a landfill or incinerated at the Kaunas cogeneration power plant, ”says Saulius Lazauskas, General Manager of Kauno Švara.

Opportunity to save

It is estimated that 140 thousand. Using tons of municipal waste for energy production at the Kaunas Cogeneration Power Plant (KKJ), bypassing the MBA, would allow the Kaunas region to save 4 million. EUR, and only for the city of Kaunas, about one and a half million a year. The price of the KKJ waste incineration service is € 35 / t, and the MBA sorting service is € 62.81 / t.

It is worth mentioning that only in 2020. In the first half of the year after the primary classification (of the population), almost the same amount of secondary raw materials (plastic, cardboard, paper, glass, metal, textiles) were collected in Kaunas , green waste) than during the whole of 2016. Therefore, it can be assumed that the amount of secondary raw materials collected has almost doubled in 4 years.

“Assessing and analyzing the 2018 Waste Management Data according to the current Waste Management Fee (ATM), it is clear that if all regions would only pay for waste shipments directly to KKJ, in 2018. In the Kaunas region, the ATM would have decreased by 44 percent. An example of this: for transportation to the MBA, the waste disposal cost was almost 9.5 million. However, if the MBA were “bypassed” and the waste transported directly to the KKJ, the cost would have been just over $ 5 million. Eur “, says the head of” Kauno švara “.

Waste management culture in Lithuania and Europe

According to S. Lazauskas, it must be recognized that the Lithuanian waste management culture still has significant deficiencies. According to him, just look at the comparison of CEWEP municipal waste management in European Union countries and we will clearly see where Lithuania should go.

“If we sort and compost better than the European average, 52 percent. By 47%, we dispose of the remaining waste much more primitively. For example, we use only 13% of our energy. Waste and even 25%. We eliminate waste. waste in landfills ”, says the Managing Director of Kauno Švara.

The ideal waste management scenario is to follow the example of countries that sort or recover all their waste (up to 5 in the EU: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Luxembourg are also slightly behind) .

“So if it is not possible to sort secondary raw materials, the waste should not be disposed of in a landfill, but the economic benefits, energy, should be extracted from it. If the sorting of secondary raw materials continues to develop intensively and municipal waste unsuitable for sorting is used for energy production, the ATM could decrease by up to 42% and Lithuania would approach the elite of the best waste management countries. waste ”, S. Lazauskas is convinced.

The final cost to the population for waste management consists of two components: the cost of collecting and transporting waste, including administration, which is 46 percent. the total amount of the contribution and
waste management fee (Kaunas RATC), which accounts for 54 percent. the total amount of the contribution. Therefore, as S. Lazauskas explains, if the decision were made to transport the waste to KKJ immediately, the ATM would decrease for the population.

“Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland do not have mechanical waste treatment facilities because it is simply inefficient. So now the future of waste management in our state depends on the Ministry of the Environment. If it is decided that waste that are not suitable for primary sort recycling are more valuable for use as energy than for transporting them unnecessarily to the MBA, the waste management fee for Kaunas residents would decrease by up to 44%, and in Lithuania the price would drop to 42% “. Kauno švara ”Managing Director.

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