Waste sorting has been something our country can be proud of for several years now. Our citizens sort really well and are at the top in Europe. Yet some municipalities with comparable parameters pay more for comparable waste services and some pay less, even though we all sort for a living. Why is that?
According to statistics, the Czechs are masters at sorting waste, we sort like hell and we are at the top of Europe. Yet in some municipalities we pay more for waste than in others. Why?
A closer examination of the cooperation with the collection company may provide the answer. There are municipalities which, after a tender procedure, enter into a contract with a collection company and then just sign invoices without the municipality being aware of the details. However, there are also towns and municipalities where waste management is given special attention, people are financially and otherwise motivated to sort, and citizens have all the information they need. As a result, in such places the proportion of separated waste has increased and the amount of mixed, unsorted municipal waste has logically decreased. Less is paid for the disposal of mixed waste and less ends up in landfill - or in an incinerator if it is within easy reach. In addition, sorted waste is a raw material that has value and can reduce the municipality's waste management costs.
The former, i.e. towns and villages that just set a flat rate for a year and a head, are unfortunately the vast majority. What is collected from the residents is paid to the "collector", what is missing is paid from the municipal budget. The enlightened municipalities and towns, on the other hand, are few and far between. But there are. Ask your mayor a few questions and see where you stand.
First of all, it is good to know what should be disclosed without asking:
1. How much does the municipality pay for the entire waste management, what are the costs for the disposal of mixed municipal waste and how much does the municipality pay for the management of sorted waste?
2. How much mixed municipal waste do citizens produce and how much is sorted? Is this ratio improving over time in favour of sorted waste?
3. Where does mixed municipal waste end up?
4. How does the municipality manage the sorted raw materials? Do you know where these raw materials end up and how they are used? How much of the sorted waste is actually recycled?
5. It is important to know whether the collection company is helping to set up an optimal system to sort as much waste as possible or just disposing of the waste in the landfill?
Recovered raw materials usually have a positive economic value. This varies both according to the type of secondary raw material and over time. The market for secondary raw materials is relatively volatile. We also have to take into account that collecting, collecting and re-sorting plastic and other secondary raw materials also costs something. These costs are usually covered by the remuneration from EKO-KOM, which is responsible for financing the collection and collection of packaging and other sorted raw materials.
Either the municipality hands over these raw materials to a collection company, which makes more or less profit from their sale depending on the current prices, or the municipality can trade these raw materials itself. The prices for paper, glass, iron and metal, tetrapak or plastics vary, of course, but in total they can add up to quite interesting amounts per year for sorting waste from EKO-KOM. It is therefore good to know:
6. How much remuneration does the municipality receive from EKO-KOM (the authorised company authorised and responsible for the collection of sorted waste from citizens)? Will this money cover the management of the sorted waste?
7. Can you prove to me, Mayor, that the municipality pays only for its waste and at a reasonable rate, i.e. that the price corresponds to the service of waste disposal, for example, at the landfill, driving distance, etc.?
Nowadays, the vast majority of mayors tell citizens that there is no way that the fees can cover the entire cost of waste management in the municipality, that the municipality pays for it out of the budget. There are, however, exceptions in municipalities where they will tell you that you can't lose money on waste management, even if people pay fees lower than the national average.
Citizens, it is your money, your waste that you hand over to the municipality, your living space, which may very well be diminished by a nearby landfill. And sorted waste should reduce the cost of waste management, sorted waste should become a new raw material and not end up in a landfill!
