[ad_1]
After the installation of 14 monitoring cameras near the municipal waste disposal containers by the Vilnius municipal company Waste System Administrator (VASA), around 160 waste management violations were recorded in two months. According to VASA, these figures are only a small part of all the waste management violations detected by the company’s controllers on a daily basis. Recently, the company has been receiving more and more reports from active and elderly communities in the capital, whose representatives note large-scale garbage dumps and waste paper packaging left near containers in the courtyards of apartment buildings, near the stairs, under the first floor balconies. VASA urges the entire population not to remain indifferent and in a concerted effort to stop blatant polluters.
According to VASA Director Justina Prunskienė, based on the examples of waste management culture, city residents can be divided into several groups. Some are constantly littering the backyards of apartment buildings, imposing waste management costs on other residents. Part of the population is indifferent or outraged, but does not take measures to discipline its polluting neighbors. There are also advanced people who not only report rapes, but also try to curb arrogant trash themselves.
Each month, VASA inspectors visit and inspect around 9,000 mixed municipal waste collection sites. It is notable that during quarantine, a large amount of paper and bulky packaging waste illegally dumped in the courtyards of apartment buildings increases. In the most problematic waste collection sites, 159 violations with surveillance cameras were recorded over two months, and information about them is immediately transmitted to the Public Order Division of the city municipality.
“Even if we built a surveillance camera next to each container or were constantly on duty ourselves, we would not change the culture of waste management without the involvement of active civilians in the fight against polluters. It is very important that all residents they understand that proper waste management is beneficial for them, ”says Justina Prunskienė.
According to her, first of all, by properly sorting and managing waste, residents reduce their mixed waste management costs. Second, proper waste management reduces environmental pollution not only in the immediate environment but also in landfills, and classified waste is recycled and reused multiple times.
VASA reminds that bulky waste (old furniture, repair and construction waste, appliances and plumbing, car tires and other large obsolete items) must be taken by their owners to special sites or request a disposal service by contacting the waste haulers .
“Before the quarantine, residents could request a free bulky waste disposal service from their homes by contacting our company; orders were accepted on the VASA self-service website. This service is currently suspended to reduce risk direct contact and spread of the virus, but will resume at the end of the quarantine. Therefore, if it is now not possible for residents to remove and add large waste to the dedicated sites, we suggest waiting until the end of the quarantine, when we can provide this service again, but in no way pollute the environment, “says VASA CEO Justina Prunskienė.
The waste management regulations approved by the municipalities establish that the waste management infraction carries a fine of 30 to 140 euros. For recidivism, the fine can be up to 600 euros
