Even now, a (fortunately already minority) part of the professional public is of the opinion that the circular economy is only an improvement of the current Czech approach, where an unusually large amount of waste is sent to landfills, and, not to say, there are often simple facilities for sorting or treating certain types of waste.
In fact, the circular economy implies a fundamental change in the system, not the very modest "upgrade" of landfilling described above. Completely new business models are gradually being created, and those who understand this in time will survive this change for the benefit of themselves (their businesses, and their families' finances) and the whole (meaning municipalities and cities, and the Czech Republic as a whole).
From autumn next year, the Parliament of the Czech Republic will discuss the EU's "circular" legislation, which sets out time-bound and quantified targets. Before that, all three proposed new regulations will be subject to a comment procedure at the turn of the year (the Ministry of the Environment estimates that, as in the last parliamentary term, thousands of comments will be received) and then to discussion in the Legislative Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.
There is still a risk that Czech creativity (frankly speaking, the efforts of major business entities to extend the landfill "feast" in the Czech Republic a little longer) may mean that there will be an effort, especially during the discussion of the three bills in the Parliament, to propose various concessions, time shifts, and that the planned comprehensive, interrelated changes will be diluted into a jumble of partial adjustments, which, however, will have little in common with the principles and, above all, with the positive effects of the circular economy.
The basic principle of the circular economy is the consistent inclusion of externalities in decision-making, a holistic approach. If this had been the decision-making approach before, it would not have been possible for there to be around 600 registered fires per year at operational landfills in the country. Just think of all the substances that are released into the air or water when a landfill catches fire...
And here is one of the "cornerstones" of the big changes in waste management - the 2024 deadline, when it will no longer be allowed to landfill reusable waste.
Let us not be under the illusion that in the distant future, "terno" will dismantle existing landfills and try to make material use of their contents. After the physical and chemical processes have been carried out, complex, expensive technologies with uncertain results will be used.
Landfilling is the fulfilment of all three "sins" in waste management: firstly, we are postponing the solution of the problem in time (by the way, the deficit in the reclamation fund of the existing operating landfills is about CZK 15 billion), we are shifting the solution of the waste problem to other parts of the environment, or even postponing the solution of the problem to other geographical areas. Therefore, in the interest of the Czech Republic and the waste management industry itself, let us wish that our country will as soon as possible join our neighbours who are already vigorously implementing the principles of circular economy and reducing landfilling.
RNDr. Miloš Kužvart
Czech Association of Circular Economy, z. s.
Executive Director
