Aren’t things left in the trash for a new home? Prague still wants waste
The large-volume containers (VOK) service has been operating in Prague since 2002, and the city operates them free of charge for residents. About four-fifths of Prague residents know about the existence of these containers. About a third of them are used only once every few years. About a third also perceive the distance of containers from their place of residence as a problem, and forty percent prefer a collection yard.
A map with the current location of the VOK and the appropriate times is available on the municipal website. For example, in Dejvice, in the next seven days, it will be possible to go to four places, where two containers will be added after one and a half days – one for conventional waste, the other for biowaste.
Bathtub yes, freezer no
Information on the use of VOK is also provided by the town halls. For example, Prague 8 lists things that definitely belong to the “classic” VOK: old furniture, carpets and linoleum, mirrors, washbasins, bathtubs and toilet bowls, old sports equipment, car glass and metal objects.
The “opposite” category includes the following items: trade waste, hazardous waste, biowaste, construction waste, tires, electrical appliances, televisions and PC monitors, computers, refrigerators, freezers and stoves.
“Just at the weekend I needed to get rid of old bicycles. I took them from the cellar to the trash can and she was soon there. Remains of various building materials always boldly to the collection yard. And the partner basically offers things on the web, which mediates donations ‘for transportation’, “Jan Čech, who lives near Hradčanská, described his experience.
According to the municipality, the problem is that, according to the survey, up to 57 percent of people “automatically” assume that by putting bulky items in the trash, someone will take it and reuse it in the household.
Almost 39 percent need to choose to put it in the garbage can because the journey to the collection yard is far or too complicated for them. The Office, despite the fact that by committing to the garbage cans, people are committing an offense and that they will not find a new owner from this “solved” thing.
Promoting the “circular economy”
Approximately 36 percent of respondents use the option of offering unusable or broken items for their own use on online “gift forums”. Their share wants to increase the support of the “circular economy” for the management of the metropolis.
“Every year, Prague produces around forty thousand tons of bulky waste, which ended up in landfills until recently. The budget for its removal exceeds one hundred million crowns a year. This is a meaningless economic and ecological burden for a modern city. We are looking for ways to recommend the generation of waste, “said the mayor’s deputy Petr Hlubuček (STAN), who is also the initiator of the project.
Hlubuček will present one of the new solutions to “give things a new life” next week.