Residents have been asking for help for a decade: They fear the Alytus fire will reoccur

The images are stunning: piles of tires, dismantled auto parts, used lubricants, consumer electronics, and tons of compressed packaging waste crammed into a long-abandoned farmhouse. Ramygala residents are asking for help and joking sadly, apparently a fire is needed, as in Alytus, to smell all of Lithuania.

Locals have been asking for help for almost a decade, but curbing criminals is also difficult for environmentalists. Environmentalists visited the Juodikoniai “landfill” for the first time in 2016. According to environmentalists, no pollution permits have been issued on this farm. For such activities, a natural person is fined 300 to 560 euros. At the same time, damage to nature is calculated, which can amount to 8 million euros.

“They were probably brought in by waste managers, who had to dispose of them and pay for them,” said Ieva Jakupkaitė, head of the Panevėžys Environmental Protection Inspectorate.

Why don’t waste managers handle waste, but bury it, for example, on unemployed farms or spill it right under their windows? Because you pay more.

“Waste management and recycling cost money. It is probably cheaper to hide and not sort it, but to take money to fix it,” explained the environmentalist.

Surrounding residents say burning plastic is often forgotten on the farm side. People fear that a fire could break out here at any time, like last year in Alytus.

“When asked year after year, he goes somewhere, does not know where to go, what to ask for and now the environment itself, but still it is not managed for some reason. I cannot understand that. Is it necessary to be like in Alytus, “Ramygala resident Salvina Kėvinienė told the” Green Case “reporter.

The owners of the Juodikoniai farm change almost every year, and journalists from the TV3 program “Green Case” managed to find the current owner of the farm. The 28-year-old local unemployed, whose place of residence was officially declared in the UK, was offered to buy the ruined farm, he said, by “Vilna people” and convinced he would benefit.

“When I bought it, there wasn’t enough trash here, it took me out without seeing me,” said the man.

Environmentalists ordered him to remove the waste from the farm. The unemployed face a fine. In addition, compensation for environmental damage of 8 million euros may be required. But he is not the first “owner” to face a fine. For the first time, environmentalists are forcing shifting homeowners to sort the environment and pay a fine, but the situation does not change. Also, as soon as a new mandatory instruction is put in to order the environment, according to the Ramygala elder, the owners change again.

“When the environment tells them to fix the area, the owner changes. And now I know that according to that instruction, the territory must be fixed before February 28,” said Ramygala Elder Valdas Chirvas.

Environmentalists have also called on the prosecutor’s office, the police, to prosecute for serious damage to nature, but have received a response that a pre-trial investigation will not be conducted. Environmentalists themselves are said to have to force the environment.

Landfill – and in the middle of Ramygala

The journalists found another hazardous waste landfill in Ramygala, Parko Street, which belongs to the Panevėžys district municipality. Auto parts, tires, crushed plastic bags, mountains of burnt, oil-soaked earth. A resident of this street who introduced himself as Eugene revealed a scandalous fact. Locals in this government place are said to allow unclear guys to dump waste and get money for it.

Uncertain guys pay Eugenijus two hundred euros for a truck translated by permission to litter on land owned by the municipality of the Panevėžys district. Eugenijus is satisfied: some waste can be sold profitably and thus earn even more.

“I’m not hired anywhere, and here I make money on bread,” said Eugene.

Eugenijus also showed the journalist how to get rid of waste with the “Green Case” program. The image is certainly not pleasant, but as the man says, as long as no one complains, he will continue to work.

But who is punished for contaminating government land with hazardous waste? Municipality of the Panevėžys district, because it is their land, where people from different destinations live in ecology, as well as fines, what matters least.

“As many residents were interviewed, no one admitted owning the waste. The waste is officially without a host yet. But the land is an undeveloped parcel, it is the responsibility of the district municipality for the land. The municipality of the Panevėžys district received mandatory instructions to dispose of the waste, ”said Ieva Jakupkaitė, head of the Panevėžys Environmental Protection Inspectorate.

“The municipality will fix it with all the taxpayers’ money,” said Ramygala Elder Valdas Chirvas.

The mayor of the Panevėžys district, Povilas Žagunis, also joined the old man.

“It would not cost the municipality, but it would cost the people of the Panevėžys district. We already have examples of how to helplessly dump illegally accumulated waste and handle it. This is a disaster, ”said the mayor of the Panevėžys district.

The Ramygala elder says he knew that a hazardous waste landfill was pouring out on Parko Street, but the locals were stubborn, although he knew who owned the waste, he did not abandon them in any way.

“The entire Parko street knows whose garbage is. But they said that it is not our garbage here, but the environment that is no longer clear. The instructions to the municipality and the municipality must organize that territory,” said Valdas Chirvas.

Ministry of the Environment: the problem will be addressed

And there certainly is no illegal cemetery for hazardous waste in Lithuania. Why don’t state authorities search for the real culprits, but instead formally punish the unemployed individuals in the province who become prosecutors?

Journalists from the “Green Case” program also called the Ministry of the Environment, which is responsible for the implementation of the waste policy in Lithuania. What measures will the Vice Minister of Environment specifically responsible for waste take? According to her, the owner of the site should be the main responsible for waste management.

“Vice Minister, don’t you see a certain scheme? For example, I am a waste manager, it is expensive for me to manage those wastes, it is not worth it, I better find a farm like this, I find a local person to whom I say: look , buy this farm, I’ll give you more money. Here is such a theoretical thought, but it could be. The person who bought that farm assumes all responsibility for the territory, but has nothing to lose, “asked the journalist.

“If the waste is found on a parcel or in a room that belongs to some owner, the owner must do it first of all,” said Deputy Environment Minister Justina Grigaravičienė.

“It just came to our attention then.” It’s a waste, will it be there until I can pay? “The journalist continued.

“Basically intolerance to such behavior would be the first step and for someone who is tempted by light money to pay something and allow it to pour into my territory, think about it,” said J. Grigaravičienė.

“If I have nothing to lose, I have nothing to think about,” said the journalist.

“I understand your sarcasm in this case, but the situation is as it is. Throughout the fraudulent business, there are cases where companies go bankrupt, owners go bankrupt, that physical bankruptcy institute gets involved, and in that case, the process remains incomplete. And those creditors don’t get their money back – in this case, the waste remains messy and will have to be sorted out somehow because the waste cannot roll over and pollute the environment. That is the question that must be addressed, “explained the Vice Minister.

And until the problem is resolved, the waste continues to travel to Lithuanian farms and the streets of provincial cities. Ramygala residents write regularly on Parko Street and the Juodikoniai farm. But the situation does not change.

You can see more details about the illegal waste farms and their shocking images in the video at the beginning of the article.

Look at the green case for journalistic investigation every Sunday at 11 a.m. On TV3 TV.

SEE EVERYTHING HERE: