According to European Union regulations, around 65 percent of municipal waste must be recycled by 2035, which cannot be achieved without the efficient separate collection of bio-waste – it was said on Thursday at the press conference that was held in connection with the topic at Depónia Nonprofit Kft.’s Pénerővölgy Központ in Csala. Tibor Steigerwald, the company’s managing director, presented the new collection system step by step to the attendees. First of all, he spoke about the fact that about 35 kilograms of organic waste – more precisely, kitchen and food waste – is generated per person on an annual basis, which means that a person produces approximately half a kilogram of this kind of waste per week, which typically ends up in the bin with mixed waste in between, maybe flushed down the toilet. The latter is also an environmental pollutant, in addition to endangering the operation of public utilities.
Until now, we have collected organic waste separately
As the managing director pointed out, organic waste – which makes up about 10 percent of mixed waste – has already been collected separately, as this includes, among other things, garden greens and a part of mixed waste, but household cooking oil, which until now is classified as organic waste could also be delivered separately. Everything that is organic and decomposable is considered bio-waste. If we want to put it precisely: from now on, it will be possible to collect kitchen green and food waste separately. As we learned, this can significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of landfills, improve the quality of the soil, and increase the operational efficiency of the general waste management system. Kitchen green and food waste is used in biogas plants – Depónia takes it to Kisbér – where electricity and heat are produced as a renewable energy source. Furthermore, due to its high nutrient content, the residue formed in the biogas plant forms an excellent compost material for agriculture.
Brown bins in housing estates
In Székesfehérvár, the new, brown 120 liter, lockable and insulated bins, in which kitchen waste and food waste can be thrown, will be placed in the Tóvárosi and Szedreskert residential areas and in the Palataváros for the time being. At the same time, in order to facilitate the collection in the apartments, a well-sealed 5-liter kitchen collection container is also placed in front of the doors in all the apartment buildings concerned, where they can read all the necessary and important information, including what and how they can put in the brown bins, and what the one you should never put in! The brown collection containers – which will begin to be installed at the beginning of February and will be placed at the already existing grid collection points next to the mixed waste bins – are emptied twice a week between May and September, and once a week between October and April. In addition, they are also taken to the Depónia site for washing once a month.
The service is free!
As Tibor Steigerwald said, joining the new type of collection system is not mandatory, but since it does not cost customers extra, they would really like more people to start collecting kitchen green and food waste separately in the mentioned places. He also added that he cannot yet say whether it will be possible for a similar collection in the residential areas in the future, since according to experience, there are fewer food residues there because of the animals. At the press conference, it was also said that the separate collection of bio-waste at this level will only start in 14 large domestic cities for the time being. In Fehérvár, it affects about 10,000 households, which means roughly 24,000 people.
The aforementioned 5-liter containers are expected to be delivered to the affected households only from the middle of February, but the brown bins will be available from the beginning of next month, so anyone who wants to start collecting their green and food waste can of course use them!
