The press conference of the deputy minister of climate was attended by the presidents of Stalowa Wola and Chełm and the mayors of Halinów, Sierpc, and Sulejówek, who represented some of the local governments participating in the development of the amendment.

Deputy Minister Jacek Ozdoba presented the scope of the planned changes to the waste management regulations, which will concern, among other things, penalties for improper disposal.

 “We want to increase the penalties for inappropriate waste handling. This includes abandoning them in public areas such as roads, yards, and green areas. Tougher penalties, together with improved methods of identification of the perpetrators, will make it possible to restrict this type of negative behavior,” emphasized Deputy Climate Minister Jacek Ozdoba.

 “Polish local governments have waited for this day for a long time. Thanks to the cooperation of local governments with the Ministry of Climate, it has been possible to work out bold changes, which will translate int savings for our residents,” added President of Stalowa Wola Lucjusz Nadbereżny.

Planned changes in waste management legislation

Penalties

The Ministry of Climate proposed, among other things, increased penalties for inappropriate handling
of waste. Currently, the penalties for dumping waste in public or private areas are much lower than the costs of its legal disposal, e.g. at Selective Municipal Waste Collection Points. This motivates the perpetrators to commit offenses that have now become a plague. Therefore, it is planned to increase penalties for littering public places (roads, streets, yards, gardens, beaches, lawns, and green areas) to PLN 5,000. Penalties for throwing out the waste in someone else's fields will also increase.

Moreover, the plan is to introduce sanctions in the form of administrative fines,
 in cases of subcontracting waste disposal obligations to entities which have not obtained the required decision or registration.

Possibility to composting without the requirement to collect bio-waste

According to the planned regulations, a commune or municipality that exempts the owners of properties who compost bio-waste from a part of the fee and from the obligation to have a brown container will be able to refuse to collect bio-waste not only from the brown container, but also when the bio-waste is in any other container or bag. At present, communes and municipalities, especially in rural areas, have to ensure collection of bio-waste even when it is processed by property owners and when the brown containers are empty, which results in unnecessary costs in the system.

Change of the maximum rate for unoccupied properties

The current statutory limit of fees for containers is not sufficient to cover the costs that are generated in the system by uninhabited properties. As a result, communes and municipalities have to cover these costs from the funds obtained from the residents or to stop servicing properties that are not inhabited. The new statutory maximum rates are intended to eliminate this problem.

Possibility to bill residents individually (blocks of apartments)

A commune or municipality that provides, on its own or in cooperation with the real estate owner, technical means that make it possible to identify which premises in a multi-family building segregates waste and which does not, will be able to apply a much fairer billing by individual premise and not by the property owner (most often it is the entire building). Collective responsibility for the outcome of waste sorting in multi-family buildings makes it necessary to increase the charges for all residents of buildings, even if the majority of the buildings’ residents do sort their waste.

Determination of gradual, rational levels of recycling by municipalities and communes

The Community law will provide for a new method of calculation of recycling and re-use in relation to the total mass of waste generated only in 2025, setting the level at 55%. At present, communes and municipalities have reached the level of about 20%, calculated according to this method; therefore, from 2021 a new method will be in force and the levels will gradually increase (to 25% in 2021, 30% in 2022, 35% in 2023, and 45% in 2024) to the level of 55% required in 2025.

Flexibility in waste sorting

If a commune or municipality ensures that the recycling and re-use targets are met by means other than the uniform five-fraction system, it will be able to benefit from a derogation for a part of or all of its territory, which it will propose on the basis of a detailed application.

Municipal waste treatment installations

The planned changes also apply to the operation of municipal waste treatment facilities. They concern, among other things, abolition of the obligation to operate a visual inspection system for the place where waste is stored by entities that managing non-flammable waste. It is also proposed to restore the permitted storage time for waste (e.g. alternative fuels) to 3 years, except for those wastes that are intended for longer storage.

It is also planned to provide for an exemption from the obligation to establish security for claims concerning sorted waste that is stored and accepted for recycling by the holder of the waste that conducts the recycling process. In addition, the new regulations will provide for the possibility to lodge a complaint against the decision of a district (municipal) head of the State Fire Service concerning compliance with fire protection requirements in order to enable companies to rectify deficiencies found during an inspection and continue their business operations.