The conference on September 22 in the capital of the currently presiding Czech Republic aims to draw attention to significant differences between the infrastructure of European member countries and the situation in the Czech Republic and other Central and Eastern European countries. At the meeting of top Czech and EU experts and legislators, there will also be talk about EU TAXONOMY and the inclusion of waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).
What do the representatives of the two main organizers expect from the conference?
Peter Kurth, FEAD, president
Leaving for Prague what are your expectations of the conference?
I expect that awareness was raised on the crucial need to definitely give a strong push for achieving the EU targets, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe where there is an absolute necessity to ensure a shift from – still massive – landfilling towards more recycling and more energy recovery from residual, non recyclable waste. I expect that awareness was raised on the leading role of private waste management industries, as the key actors for industrial investments in collection, sorting, preparing for recycling, recovering embedded energy in residual, non recyclable waste, and also for the safe treatment of hazardous waste.
Michal Stieber, předseda výkonného výboru ČAObH, České asociace oběhového hospodářství
ČAObH was founded to achieve a landfill ban as its first goal. Much has been achieved with the new law, but its final version still preserved the conditions for cheap massive landfilling of mainly mixed of municipal waste and other usable raw materials. But in the current crisis we should use these raw materials and accelerate efforts to end landfilling. We can not pretend there is no problem with landfilling. The landfill business continues to flourish, while there is nothing to produce energy and secondary materials for industry. The segment of waste recovery offers many solutions in today’s crisis, it is only necessary to set clear and motivating conditions and legal framework without exceptions. A number of these solutions will be presented at the conference.
Mr. Kurth, from your perspective what is the biggest challenge for FEAD nowadays?
The biggest challenge for FEAD nowadays is that the EU legislator strengthens regulatory tools and public support, to definitely accelerate the pace for more circularity, at the service of the fight against climate change. With the aim that the existing EU targets become a reality across Europe, and as prerequisite to “make it happen”, our investments need a strong, stable regulatory framework, based on truly implemented EU targets
Does FEAD have any recommendations or solutions to the crisis we are facing right now?
A FEAD President, my recommendation is to urge for EU policies that facilitate recycling, by giving public support for more separate collection, by setting up rules for the ecodesign of products, by developing mandatory recycled contents for a series of products, to boost the uptake of recycled materials and trigger investments in the whole recycling chain. Moreover, the role of energy recovery from residual, non recyclable waste in circular economy, in an unprecedented energy context, needs to be fully recognised, in particular in the EU Taxonomy.
