Ostrava’s citizens are producing more waste, but a higher percentage is being recovered
Waste
In 2017 a total 112 570 tonnes of household waste was produced in Ostrava – the highest volume in the past seven years, and a rise of almost 10 000 tonnes compared with the previous year. A total 47% of household waste was recovered (i.e. used as an input material to create new products). This is the best result in the past seven years; the figure in 2011 was just 28%.
Deputy Mayor Kateřina Šebestová gave more details:
“Ostrava’s economic stability – and the rise in living standards – has been reflected in an increase in volumes of household waste. Last year, each citizen of Ostrava produced an average of 390 kg of waste, compared to 353 kg in 2016 and just 315 kg in 2011.” However, Šebestová noted a positive trend – the increase in separated (sorted) waste and the corresponding decrease in mixed (unsorted) waste: “Last year we were essentially reaping what we sowed in the previous years. Our investments in waste separation bags (which were distributed free of charge to Ostrava’s households in 2012) and the free collection of bins for garden waste (the Bio Bin scheme, launched in 2016) have proved very effective. Another important factor in recent years has been the increase in the number of sorting bins installed by the municipal districts – with the financial support of Ostrava’s waste management company OZO. Of course, our public information campaigns have also been a very important part of our waste management activities – including campaigns aimed at young children. In the 15 years since it was set up, OZO’s waste education centre has been attended by over 150 000 children.”
In 2017 Ostrava’s citizens sorted 4 174 tonnes of plastics (3.7% of the total volume of household waste produced), 7 674 tonnes of paper (6.8%) and 2 712 tonnes of glass (2.4 %). Kateřina Šebestová added: “In the past seven years, the largest volume of sorted waste has been garden waste and greenery; in 2017 a total of 15 441 tonnes was separated out for collection. That’s more than 4 000 tonnes more than in 2016, and almost twice the volume of garden waste produced in 2015. Of course the volume of this type of waste depends partly on the weather in a given year, but I’m convinced that our Bio Bin scheme has been a major contributing factor here.” Garden waste and greenery accounts for 13.7% of all household waste in Ostrava. Volumes of mixed (unsorted) household waste continue to fall; last year unsorted waste accounted for just 46.2% of the total household waste collected in Ostrava. Outsized items of waste accounted for 11.7%, building waste and rubble 9.6%, and metals 4.4%.
Karel Belda from Ostrava’s waste management company OZO gave details of how the collected waste is put to use:
“Besides separating the waste by type, another very important aspect of waste management is waste recovery – using waste as an input material to make new products. Our in-house sorting technology enables us to separate out plastics and glass, process greenery, and make alternative solid fuel from some of the plastics and other combustible elements of the waste. Our production of this fuel has grown from 9 925 tonnes in 2013 to 26 807 tonnes last year, and this year we plan to open our second production line – which should increase our production capacity to around 40 000 tonnes. Recently we have been feeling the effects of China’s restrictions on raw material imports from Europe, and our fuel production facility is helping to solve the problem of excess plastic waste here in Europe.”
Although last year’s figures show a continuing positive trend in Ostrava’s waste management system, the mixed (unsorted) household waste collected by OZO still contains a large quantity of recoverable waste, as Deputy Mayor Kateřina Šebestová explained:
“The City and OZO are continuing to seek new solutions for improving the separation and recovery of household waste – both for material recycling and fuel production. We have now launched a pilot project which involves placing separate bins in residential areas where they have not previously been located – we have added blue bins for paper and yellow bins for plastic. In May, OZO will launch this system in nearby Ludgeřovice, and this autumn we plan to introduce it in part of the Radvanice a Bartovice municipal district.”