Stora Enso Rethink 2012

Rubbish revolution
Ostrołęka
Poland
In Poland, nearly two million tonnes of valuable
recyclable raw material goes to waste every year.
The country’s recycling rate is among the lowest
in Europe, as it has no effective waste-processing
chain in place. This will all change in 2013.
Text Eeva Taimisto
Photos Paulina Terendy, Ekomena
Aphoto of a coniferous
forest is projected onto
the conference room wall.
The ground is littered with
rubbish: plastic wrappers,
tin cans and food scraps.
Waterlogged milk cartons
and empty plastic bags lie amid the moss.
“Some people who live around here throw their
rubbish in the forest,” says Stanisław Giżycki, an
activist with the Polish environmental organisation
Ekomena. We are at the organisation’s office
in the town of Ostrołęka, roughly 120 kilometres
north of Warsaw. Ekomena activists campaign on
behalf of environmental protection in Poland and
collect rubbish from forests and other outdoor
areas. “Some people pollute the environment with
their trash to avoid paying the waste-collection
fees,” Giżycki explains.
“Others just don’t care.”
Waste management in Poland is undergoing
a major transformation during 2013, as the
country will reform its entire waste-handling
system by setting up a common waste tax,
with which all municipalities will organise their
waste management. The collection, processing,
recycling and disposal of waste have, until now,
been the responsibility of consumers and the
private waste management companies they pay
directly.
“Now, Poland will use public funds to establish
a waste management system,” says Giżycki.
“Once we switch over to the municipal system,
everyone will have to pay the waste tax.”
The motivation behind the reform is Poland’s
ambition to institute an effective recycling
system in the country – one that meets European
standards. In 2010, around 73% of all waste in
Poland remained unsorted and unrecycled. The
European Union has stepped in on numerous
occasions to impose fines on the country and
finally by setting the condition that in 2013 no
more than half of biodegradable municipal waste
can end up at the landfill. By 2020 at least 50%
of paper, plastic, glass and metals contained in
municipal waste must be sorted out and prepared
for reuse or recycling. If Poland doesn’t come
through on this condition, there will be further fines.
Random rubbish inspections
The Mayor of Ostrołęka, Janusz Kotowski, is one
of the officials responsible for setting up the new
recycling system. “For the first time in Poland,
this responsibility now lies entirely in the hands of
the local authorities,” Kotowski says. “We need
to use the revenue from waste tax to address this
country’s waste-sorting issues.”
38—Rethink
Stora Enso—39