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The so-called pollution tax per ton of waste deposited in landfills is now 10 euros and is one of the lowest in the European Union. It will grow by 5 euros next year and is set to rise to 20 euros in 2023.
However, the initiative of the Ministry of Environment threatens an even greater price shock. The ministry has presented a draft proposing to increase the fee for the disposal of non-hazardous waste in landfills by up to five times, up to 50 euros per ton. And this means that such jumps will inevitably come in the final tax that residents and businesses pay for the trash removed.
“This will affect all consumers and, in fact, the tax increase seems quite drastic,” says Gintautas Ulys, director of the Panevėžys Regional Center for Waste Management.
According to him, that position has been repeatedly expressed by the Lithuanian Association of Regional Waste Management Centers. How much would the price of waste management increase for the residents of Panevėžys in particular? G. Ulys says he is not trying to speculate; this would require detailed calculations, but he had no doubt that the change would be significant.
“This is a charge per tonne of waste disposed of and should therefore be included in the price. We still hope not to follow this path, ”said G. Ulys.
Not all garbage is expensive
Last year, more than 108 thousand landfills were delivered to the Panevėžys regional landfill. tons of all waste. Of these, more than 50 thousand. tons were disposed of, representing 46 percent of all waste delivered to the landfill. It is for the latter that an overwhelming burden is applied.
“Most of the incoming waste is treated and is not subject to this tax. The fee is charged only for each ton of waste disposed of,” explained G. Ulys.
In other words, some of the waste that goes to landfill is recycled, for example green waste is composted. Mixed waste is also sorted, some going to incinerators and some being recycled. All that waste is not subject to tax. The pollution tax applies only to the part of the waste that enters the landfill and needs to be disposed of, that is, that is no longer treated in any other way.
According to the director, the main reason for increasing the pollution tax is to find ways to eliminate waste in other ways.
“But are we ready for this process today? It may be that you only have to pay a higher rate and still cannot solve the problem if the recycling capacity is lacking or if no one is dedicated to recycling ”, considers the director.
A new price awaits
Rolandas Ramūnas, director of the container emptying company Panevėžys Panevėžio specialus autotransportas, considers that, according to the calculations of Vilnius residents, if the landfill fee rises to 50 euros per tonne, the collection and management of waste could cost around 8 euros per year in Panevėžys.
“After all, the same sorting facilities are located in Vilnius and Panevėžys,” said R. Ramūnas.
In Panevėžys, biodegradable waste containers should appear at collective waste collection sites, which would reduce them in mixed waste containers and reduce landfilling.
According to the director, although the disposal of this waste costs, but less than mixed utilities. Meanwhile, data is being collected in Panevėžys, according to which the waste tax will be calculated next year, when the price of its entrance to the landfill will increase from the current 10 euros to 15 euros. According to R. Ramūnas, there will be primary data in early or mid-October, insofar as this affects the price.
Habits don’t change
According to R. Ramūnas, how much you will have to pay for waste management in the future is largely up to the residents themselves. The more waste that is sorted, the less it needs to be disposed of in a landfill.
“The objective of this planned increase in the entrance fee to 50 euros is to keep as little waste as possible in the landfill,” says the director.
Still, according to him, residents will feel a jump in prices, and probably quite abrupt, because their habits and mentality do not change that quickly.
“We have been trying to survive the loading of waste at the container sites for several years: we write articles, we build surveillance cameras, we impose fines, but the result is absolutely the same,” notes R. Ramūnas.
According to him, even several cars drive to handle such steep mountains: one collects discarded tires, the other – bulky waste, etc. It costs a large amount per year, more than 200 thousand. and are included in the waste management fee. And residents could deliver those wastes free of charge.
“Imagine the amount for the disposal of the container sites at the price paid by the residents themselves,” says R. Ramūnas.
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