Flooded towns struggle with waste, they have to create temporary landfills

For example, in Opava, the city has so far been removing “just” about twenty percent of the waste from the parts of the city that are damaged by water. People were evacuated from their homes or it was created as a result of a flood.

“This waste is going to the Dukel barracks area, where a temporary dump was quickly created. But it is already almost full and the town is urgently looking for other suitable places for investment landfills,” said Opava spokesman Roman Konečný. He said, unfortunately, the city no longer has any area that would meet the requirements for waste storage.

“That is, the area should be large enough and at the same time there should be an underground that does not allow what we bring into the ground water,” explained the spokesperson of Opava. Therefore, the city hall began to deal with the owners of private land in Opava and its surroundings. “We have already been able to negotiate an additional temporary landfill in the silage pits of Školní estatek, in Kateřinky, and we will also have access to the airport area behind Kylešovice in Opava . Here, however, it is necessary to carry out an expensive restoration of the surface,” explained Konečný.

The town hall is asking the residents of Opavany who live near the temporary landfill for patience and forbearance. “This is only a temporary situation and we will do our best to make it last as short as possible,” said the deputy mayor.

“Our estimate is that we need to remove five, but six thousand containers of waste. Now we only have thirty such vessels. We also transport waste with the help of heavy equipment and trucks of private companies, the military and technical services. At the moment, we have about 70 pieces of equipment used just to clean the flooded parts of the city,” said the deputy mayor of Opava, Vladimír Schreier, adding that there will also be a problem with the transport after that to the official landfills in Holasovice and Chlebičov. These landfills were closed for part of the week and at the same time they are also used by other areas under flood

For example, garbage is also transported there from Krnov, where the flood affected up to 80 percent of the town. “We know that queues are now forming at the landfill in Holasovice and there is a long waiting time. That’s why we established a temporary landfill site in Krnov, on the land of the former refinery,” Krnov spokeswoman Dita Círová told Novinka on Sunday. She pointed out that the town still does not have electricity in all parts, because of the flooded heating plant, homes are also without heat and hot water. “Furthermore, only utility water is still available in the town. Everything is being solved,” said Círová.

The city of Bohumín in Karvinska also has problems with storing waste from the flooded parts. “I think it will take us weeks to collect the rubbish from the houses. All honor to our waste collectors, but if they help us remove the surrounding towns, if they have the ability, we will be happy,” explained the mayor of Bohumín, Petr Vícha.

According to him, the second problem is that this waste will fill the remaining capacity of the Bohumín landfill, which was supposed to serve the city for another two years. “We expect this amount of waste to be higher than usual in two years. Whatever resources will be taken there and we will start looking for a landfill somewhere else,” he said.