The Government of Slovenia passed a decree on granting concessions for waste incineration, which specified its intentions to prevent the export of waste that can be thermally treated and produce energy from it.
In this way, Slovenia wants to further regulate its waste management system, but also to reduce its costs. Namely, the incineration of waste abroad is paid for by the companies that made the waste in Slovenia, so incineration in the country would make the service cheaper, and in addition, electricity and heat would be obtained.
There is now one incinerator in the country – Toplarna Celje, which annually consumes 30,000 tons of waste and produces heat and electricity. The export of waste that could be incinerated in 2017 was 165,000 tons, and in 2018 more than 210,000 tons.
Waste suitable for recycling and reuse will not be incinerated
The Decree on the provision of obligatory public utility services for the incineration of municipal waste is also a concession act, which envisages the granting of a concession for a period of 30 years, the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning announced.
The subject of the public service, as stated in the decree, is the incineration of flammable fractions of municipal waste that are generated on the territory of Slovenia and are not suitable for recycling or reuse. In this way, the hierarchy of waste management is respected, which states: prevention, reuse, separation, recycling, energy recovery and disposal.
The best available technologies will be applied in waste treatment plants
These fractions are formed during the mechanical treatment of mixed municipal waste as part of the mandatory treatment of certain types of municipal waste, the Ministry announced.
The Ministry previously announced that the cities of Ljubljana, Maribor and Kočevje are interested in building new incinerators. The decree does not specify the number of concessions for incinerators.
The decree also stipulates that the Ministry and the Environmental Inspectorate will be responsible for controlling waste incineration. Minister Vizjak said earlier that only the best available technologies will be used in waste treatment plants, and that the state will co-finance the construction of incinerators.
Source: balkangreenergynews.com
