The collection and treatment of solid municipal waste is a major problem in Vilnius County. In some rural areas there is no waste collection service, and existing municipal dumps have no environmental protection systems.

The collection and treatment of solid municipal waste is a major problem in Vilnius County. In some rural areas there is no waste collection service, and existing municipal dumps have no environmental protection systems, with the exception of the Kariotiskes dump, which serves Vilnius and adjoins the Trakai National Park. But even there, analysts have recorded a deterioration of the water table. 350 000 m³ of effluent enters the soil every year from the region's 125 dumps.

The current ISPA waste management project in the Vilnius region includes the closure of five municipal dumps, including the Kariotiskes dump, and the construction of a new regional dump, which meets national and European standards, in the municipality of Elektrenai, on the site of a former quarry. This new dump will have a containment shell, an effluent pumping system, 10 wells for water table analysis, and a biogas collector for electricity production. The project will ultimately make it possible to achieve a 4/5ths reduction in effluent seepage.

A notable aspect of the project – and a "first" for ISPA – is the involvement in the preparatory discussions of the Lithuanian Green Movement (LGM), a non-governmental organisation. Invited as an observer by the project monitoring committee, the LGM was a participant in the public hearings to evaluate the environmental impact of the various options available. Its opposition to the construction of a waste incinerator, mainly due to the high cost, finally won the day.

Another controversial issue was the siting of the regional dump: protests by the local population and other associations, together with the carefully thought out campaign of the LGM, caused the authorities to abandon the idea of using a green area in the municipality of Sirvintai in favour of the former industrial site of Kazokistes.

This positive experience shows that NGOs can play a key role in ensuring the quality and public transparency of projects. It also highlights the benefits of sharing expertise. The associations, professionals and the administrations all have a role to play and can all learn from the experience of implementing complex projects of this kind.

ISPA Implementing Agency under the Ministry of the Environment
ISPA.tuminas@aplinkuma.lt

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Urban Policy > Urban environment > Environmental sustainability

Waste management and recycling