In Prague, interest in biowaste sorting is growing significantly
Over 30,000 applicants from family and apartment buildings, which represents up to 200,000 households, already use a brown container for sorting vegetable bio-waste in Prague. This is a great success for the service, for which the capital greatly favored the conditions at the beginning of this year. It should continue to expand and develop in the future.
The service of sorting organic waste into brown bins is part of the waste management of the capital city. It was bio-waste that made up a significant part, specifically up to 40%, of the contents of black bins for mixed waste, but it is a valuable material. However, this is now changing, as interested parties from owner associations, housing cooperatives or owners of family houses can simply apply electronically for a bio-bin for plant waste from January 2022. In addition, they get this for free. Thanks to this approach, Metropole sorts and recycles more plant-based bio-waste, which is used to create compost.
“We are pleased that thanks to the biowaste sorting project, Prague is succeeding in reducing the amount of mixed municipal waste. This part of the bio-waste does not have to end up in an incinerator and can be used as a valuable material. The more residents sort, the more they can reduce the cost of collecting their mixed waste.” explains Jana Plamínková, deputy for the environment, and adds: “It is essential for us that the residents of Prague appreciate the sorting of bio-waste. They perceive it as useful – whether with regard to their household or with regard to improving the environment.”
This is also confirmed by a representative survey of satisfaction, which was carried out by the JRK company in more than five hundred households in all parts of the city. It showed that the majority of respondents are satisfied with the sorting of bio-waste. In their justifications, the people of Prague explain this by saying that their mixed waste basket no longer smells bad, or that sorting contributes to improving the environment.
Nevertheless, the research showed that the vast majority of Prague residents are satisfied with the new method of sorting, it is still not possible to deal with all bio-waste from their households. A substantial expansion of the bio-waste sorting service is therefore being prepared to include the possibility to sort all kitchen bio-waste, not just vegetable waste. In preparation, there is also the possibility to sort animal remains or food remains.
From this sorted bio-waste, the city will then produce compressed natural gas (CNG) in a biogas station, which the city has already acquired and is renovating for its needs. The plan is also to introduce so-called multi-commodity collection, i.e. joint collection of plastics, metals and tetrapak in one container. Thanks to these innovations, Prague is getting closer to meeting the high recycling targets set by the waste legislation.
However, without cooperation with the people of Prague, the introduction of bio-waste sorting could not succeed. That is why a contact information campaign is part of the service. The promotion explains in this way why it is important to sort waste. As part of the campaign, almost two thousand households in various parts of Prague were approached.
“The purity of the collected plant biowaste is essential for its further processing in compost plants. Sometimes, however, it can happen that something ends up in brown containers that doesn’t belong there, and the entire contents can thus deteriorate. The contact campaign was a suitable opportunity to explain the basic principles and rules for sorting this material to new users of biowaste collection services. Prague services, in cooperation with the capital city, helped to select new customers who had not yet used the service and had no experience with sorting biodegradable waste. added Radim Mana, press spokesman for Prague Services.