Municipal waste management issues (original) (raw)

2018, Engineering for Rural Development

Reuse, recycling and recovery are becoming the key words for a new paradigm of the sustainability, innovation and competitiveness. Taking into account that waste becomes a resource, a new EU waste management framework can bring significant benefits: sustainable growth and job creation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, direct savings linked to efficient waste management practices, including treatment, and a better environment. The EU Member States are increasingly shifting from municipal waste landfilling to waste prevention and recycling. It is recognised that landfilling is the worst waste management option for biodegradable waste, particularly at the EU level. Respectively, the European countries use a variety of policy instruments for: preventing waste generation, switching waste from landfilling and moving towards more recycling. In 2015, the European Commission (EC) proposed new targets for municipal waste-60 % recycling and preparing for reuse by 2025 and 65 % by 2030. Waste prevention affects and depends on a very wide range of stakeholders, but it also depends on changes in the attitudes and behaviour of households. The aim of the study is twofold: 1) to evaluate the current state and trends of municipal waste management in Latvia, which are aimed to fulfil the EC recommendations and the EU legislation, as well as to reach the EU level accepted objectives and targets of waste related policies; 2) to assess Latvian households' attitudes against waste sorting. The comparison of performance in the implementation of municipal waste management policy among the EU Member States, the Baltic Sea Region EU countries and the Baltic States was performed. A combination of the Eurostat statistics, the legislation and various documents of the EU and Latvian institutions, as well as different sources of literature have been used as materials for evaluation. Besides, based on the national and municipal survey data, households' attitudes and behaviour regarding the solid waste management are assessed.