The objectives and legal instruments of Municipal Waste Management in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

In particular, two types of data are important for assessing the state of waste management in each Member State of the European Union — first, the amount of the waste generated per capita annually and waste recovery rate, second, the rate of waste disposal in accordance with the waste hierarchy. The latest available statistics on the amount of waste generated per capita are for 2018. While the European Union average is 492 kg of municipal waste produced per capita for 2018, the Slovak Republic’s waste production is slightly less than that, with an average of 414 kg of municipal waste produced per capita for 2018. On the other hand, Denmark with 766 kg of municipal waste produced per capita annually is at the bottom of the European Union ranking. The Czech Republic with 351 kg and Poland with 329 kg of municipal waste produced per capita on the average annually for the same period are in better position than Slovak Republic. Another important data for the evaluation of the state of municipal waste management is the rate of recovery of municipal waste, alternatively — the municipal waste recycling rate. Within this scope, the Slovak Republic performs considerably worse, both regarding the waste management objectives and in comparison with the European Union average, or in comparison with remaining Member States. While the average recycling rate of municipal waste in the European Union was 47.0% in 2018, the Slovak Republic recycled only 36.3% of municipal waste in 2018. The situation within this scope in the Czech Republic/Czechia (34.5%) and Poland (34.3%) were similar. Germany achieved the highest municipal waste recycling rate in 2018, up to 67.3%. Directly related to the rate of the municipal waste recovery is the high rate of waste disposal, especially in the form of landfill, which was in the Slovak Republic in 2018 amounted to 55.0%. Despite the high rate of landfill, we can speak of a reduction in the landfill rate of municipal waste compared to previous years. From the foregoing data of selected indicators of the average recycling rate of municipal waste, it can be deduced that the system of municipal waste management in the Slovak Republic is obviously flawed, in as much as municipal waste management lacks long-term management in accordance with the waste hierarchy. The said deficiency may result either from insufficient legislation pertaining to this area or failure in terms of its enforcement.