Is Latvia working on an effective and economically justified biological waste management system and will it be adopted in time? Unfortunately, results of a recent audit clearly indicate – no, as reported by Latvian State Audit.
The institution explains that the current system no longer meets the country’s situation when it comes to population numbers and population density, for example. Adoption of the system is significantly delayed. The reason is because it is being adopted chaotically, without coordinated management or cooperation with all involved sides. If he system is adopted formally, it is likely residents will not be motivated and will not sort biological waste in a volume necessary to meet infrastructure output. Secondly, residents will likely overpay for management of biological waste. Finally, there is a possibility of sanctions – losses for Latvia if required EU environmental goals are not met in time.
This is why State Audit invites reviewing the chosen approach for the system’s adoption and development and find the best possible solutions.
State Audit council member Edgars Korčagins says: «Waste management in Europe, Latvia included, already does not meet the free services group. Waste management is expected to become more expensive. House holds already experience cost increase for many everyday goods and services. Unfortunately, without an efficient biological waste management system and option to earn money from recycled waste, Latvia risks putting a bigger burden on the shoulders of our residents – the waste management system’s maintenance costs.»
«If the current approach is not restarted, the intended system will turn out very expensive for Latvia and unfriendly for residents. On top of that, potential EU sanctions may leave an even bigger negative impact if the system is not adopted in time,» Korčagins said.
He also notes that the financial burden directly correlates with residents’ behaviour and participation in sorted waste collection – separating waste for which they don’t have to pay from the general flow of waste helps reduce the volume of waste for which they do have to pay.
This is the way the «pollutor pays» principle surfaces.
Identified risks suggest – if biological waste system is not adopted in time, it may result in sanctions.
Between 2010 and 2018 the total volume of waste in the EU has increased by 5% or 114 million tonnes. Directives of the European Parliament and European Council dictate that by 2035 member states are to reduce the volume of waste buried in landfills to 10% of the total volume of household waste. Half of this waste is biological waste.
To reach this goal, it is necessary to adopt a biological waste and recycling system by the end of 2023.
According to Latvian State Audit, the development of biological waste sorted collection system is very slow in the country – by 2023 it is planned to complete the necessary infrastructure and nothing more. The audit identified major risks, which allows for the possibility of Latvia failing to adopt an effective biological waste management system in the entire country and thereby failing to reach the goals listed in the directive. This means Latvia may face sanctions from the EU.
The minimal penalty amount is EUR 392 000. Depending on the severity of the penalty, however, the penalty may be higher – the maximum sanction amount is EUR 11 566 120 a year until a violation is prevented.
Additionally, according to estimates from State Audit, without adopting a sorted biological waste system in the entire country in 2021-2023, Latvia’s residents will lose up to EUR 16 676 830 in potential savings, including EUR 6 430 910 in Pieriga waste management region and EUR 10 145 920 in other regions. Considering the planned natural resource tax increase for waste storage in 2022 and 2023, residents’ lost potential savings may turn out even higher than expected.
The system’s paradox: expensive biological waste recycling equipment is constructed without taking into account that sorted biological waste is not available and post-recycling materials are unusable.
Latvia currently has only some guidelines for the system’s mid-stage (collection and recycling). The chosen solutions are expensive, and they are equally applied in territories with high population density and territories with fewer residents. The system’s starting and end point’s development are significantly behind.
A significant risk for increasing costs of biological waste management system is that in the 2013-2020 planning period Latvia attracted EU financing and commenced an expensive (EUR 90 million) biological waste anaerobic recycling infrastructure construction in six household waste landfills the total output of which will exceed Latvia’s needs.
According to estimates from the State Audit, with this piece of infrastructure biological waste recycling output in Latvia will exceed 380 443 tonnes annually
The planned biological waste processing output at all AAR (except Viduslatvijas AAR) is 2-2.5 times higher than the expected maximum biological waste volume produced by households. The reason for this situation may be a problem with quality of data. This problem is mentioned in the general Latvian waste management study.
There isn’t enough reliable data on the volume of biological waste produced within state and municipal territories, which makes it difficult to make weighed decisions regarding investments and infrastructure.
The costs of biological waste recycling system are largely dictated by the fact that in Latvia emphasis is currently put on anaerobic recycling of biological waste without alternatives – compost fields and biogas stations or their adaptation for the needs of biological waste recycling.
A major factor that would help reduce the costs of biological waste recycling system, is the use of end products. However, Latvia still does not have regulations that would dictate the final status of biological waste, which would allow for an effective use of compost or biogas acquired from biological waste.
Latvia also lacks a compost quality system, which is something most EU member states have.
This means Latvia has not secured the option to reduce biological waste management costs by collecting revenue from sales of products received from recycling.
This has resulted in a paradoxical situation: Latvia is making a system that recycles biological waste at a high cost, but in reality there is neither recycled waste nor any option to use the materials acquired from recycling.
A fundamental problem of policy-making – decentralised development of the system without effective coordination
A number of reasons have contributed to the situation Latvia is in now. First of all, coordination of the state policy is inefficient and the policy maker – Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Protection – explains the slow progress with incomplete legislative acts and partial monitoring of the situation. All this leaves development of sorted biological waste collection in the hands of individual municipalities. The situation is made more difficult by the fact that the state has not adopted any specific goals to accomplish: no quantitative or qualitative indexes so that municipalities adopt the system not just formally but also ensure the system functions economically and effectively, balancing environmental gals, supply, demand and costs.
Biological waste collection and recycling system’s introduction process has not gone down in an organised and coordinated manner with all involved sides.
Although the state waste management plan for 2014-2020 provided preparations for the introduction of sorted biological waste and recycling system, on a regional level most regions did not develop plans to assist with accomplishment of the plan’s specific goals. All development documents detailed goals that were not executed in the previous planning period were moved to the new planning period without naming specific indexes and without providing municipalities with greater clarity about the adoption of the biological waste system.
Without active involvement from residents, it is not possible to adopt a sorted biological waste collection system in Latvia
Experience of other countries indicates that without involving residents, it is not possible to create a sorted biological waste collection system. Efforts to raise Latvian residents’ awareness and knowledge of waste sorting have not been sufficient so far in spite of initiatives organised by public organisations and green lifestyle enthusiasts.
Municipalities and their institutions have also been slow to make examples with sorted biological waste. Additionally, they have not organised or supported initiatives from residents. Building managers have also been slow to raise residents’ awareness of waste sorting even though they are the closest to residents when it comes to collection of biological waste.
Korčagins notes: «Public involvement is not always limited to the creation of booklets or advertisements. There is also proactive actions, such as offering residents free containers for sorted biological waste to help improve residents’ knowledge and involvement.»
«Opposite to other countries’ experience, Latvia has not developed clearly-defined goals to keep society informed».
«Unfortunately, as a result of this Latvia has not been able to promote residents’ knowledge of the importance of sorted biological waste, opportunities and benefits.»
Although the «ship has sailed», it is still possible to reduce costs
State Audit stresses – creation and maintenance of an investment system in Latvia was and remains an option to help reduce costs in multiple ways.
EU practice indicates that sorted biological waste collection system is not always mandatory in the whole country – only in certain municipalities. In other areas, decisions are generally made in favour of cheaper solutions and based on each individual situation. For example, in Hungary the government has commenced local/regional-scale initiatives for biological waste collection.
It is possible to reduce the system’s costs by using a previously created biological waste recycling infrastructure.
One important factor that helps reduce system maintenance costs is use of recycled products. This requires using compost or other recycled materials acquired from biological waste. It is also necessary to adopt a compost quality system, which exists in most EU member states.
After the audit 15 recommendations were sent to VARAM and municipalities to ensure immediate implementation of effective and economically justified biological waste management system.
The term for implementation of recommendations for municipalities is 2022 and for the ministry – 2023.
Problems
Currently most of biological waste (30% to 60%) ends up in mixed household waste, from which it is not possible to completely separate it from general waste even though sorting equipment already exists at household waste landfills. The fraction of mechanically separated biological waste contains many undesirable impurities (glass, plastic, etc.). Biological waste limits recycling opportunities for household waste.
The volume of biological waste per capita differs among EU member states – from 75 kg in Hungary to 375 kg in Denmark (average of 175 kg per capita in EU). The percentage of biological waste in household waste also differs from country to country: from 17% in Hungary to 48% in Spain.
The volume of biological waste produced depends on different factors, including data acquisition and reporting, level of urbanisation, existence of sorted waste collection, climate, etc.
Waste producers, including residents, pay for collection of sorted waste and are interested in reducing volumes by reducing costs of waste management – collection of sorted biological waste helps reduce household waste volumes.
To ensure biological waste is collected with as few impurities as possible, it is important to ensure sorted collection.