Slovak waste ends up in landfills

Most of the waste produced in Slovakia still ends up in landfills, stated the Environment Ministry in assessing the fulfilment of the Waste Prevention Programme 2018's goals. In addition to the low recycling rate, Slovakia has not been successful in reducing the volume of waste. About ten million tonnes of waste is produced in Slovakia a year. "This amount hasn't been reduced even in the past few years," said the ministry. The main objective, which is a shift from reclaiming materials to waste prevention, hasn't been reached yet. The reason for this is the relatively short five-year period, during which it hasn't been possible to implement such a major change in the understanding and the hierarchy of waste management. The ministry also points out that Slovakia, similar to other European Union countries, has a strong recycling industry that needs a sufficient volume of waste, which is why it isn't interested in implementing measures to prevent its formation. Despite the fact that the share of waste in landfills is expected to fall in the future, landfill capacities are still being expanded in Slovakia. "New greenfield waste dumps are hardly being developed and the ministry isn't registering in this respect any requirements for building new landfills. However, existing landfills must still provide sufficient space for landfilling, so they still need to be adequately expanded," spokesman for the ministry Tomas Ferencak told TASR.