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   What is being done to fix the problems ?

Equipment and Facilities Used to Process, Use, and Dispose of Wastes

In 1997 there were 14 waste-processing, -utilizing, and -disposal facilities operated in Prague. The facilities are classified and grouped in accordance with Annex 9B of Decree of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic No. 338/1997 Coll., stipulating details pertaining to waste management and disposal. There were three facilities based on a chemical process their aggregate capacity being 1,795 tpy. In addition there are five incineration plants in the territory of Prague which can together handle 1,645 tons of waste per year plus six heat-generating incineration units with a combined capacity of 31,516 tpy. In October 1998 a new municipal waste incineration plant in Prague 10 - Malešice, capable of handling 310,000 tons of waste per year, was put into operation.

COLLECTION OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

As of July 1, 1998, the Prague City Hall is obliged to provide a site where citizens could deposit hazardous components and substances that would otherwise find their way into household waste. It can fulfill this duty also by providing a mobile hazardous waste pick-up service. In this respect, the concept of municipal authorities is based on three collection methods:

• collection of hazardous waste in stationary pick-up points (there should be 21 of them)

• collection of hazardous waste by mobile pick-up trucks at regular stops in other parts of the city

• collection of unused drugs and mercury thermometers in all pharmacies in the territory of the city.

As the concept was a part of specifications of a public tender that had not been evaluated by September 1998 the Department of Municipal Infrastructure of the Prague City Hall decided to arrange a so-called provisional hazardous waste collection system. The results indicate that the total amount of hazardous waste collected in the territory of the first to tenth districts of Prague in August and September was 24 tons, with Prague 6 and Prague 1 occupying the top places with 6.5 and 3.5 tons, respectively. In terms of weight lead storage batteries accounted for 11 tons followed by paints, adhesives, and resins (7 tons), and pesticides, drugs, photographic chemicals, acids, and others.

The collection campaign also focused on the attitude of people toward the collection system and their general knowledge of, and familiarity with waste-related issues. A statistical evaluation of questionnaires has shown that some 40 % of the respondents do not know how much they pay for the removal of waste from their apartment block, almost 75 % of them have stated that they separate different types of waste. Men and women account for 64 % and 36 % of participants in/users of the hazardous waste collection system. Also interesting is the age structure of the collection campaign: those over 50 years of age represent the most numerous group (53.2 %), followed by those from 40 to 49 years (21 %) while the 30 to 39 and under 20 age groups accounted for 8.1 % and 3.2 %, respectively. As to education, people with elementary education accounted for 5 %, those with secondary education for 47.5 %, and university-educated respondents for 47.5 % as well. They learned about the hazardous waste collection system either from daily newspapers (61 %) or leaflets (28 %).

 VOCTÁOOVA WASTE COLLECTION SITE - THE FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION

In October 1997 a municipal waste collection site was opened in Voctáoova street (Prague 8), where citizens of Prague and tradesmen (the former free of charge, the latter for a fee) can get rid of larger quantities of separated waste.

In the first year of operation of the facility clients turned over a total of 426 tons of separated household waste and building debris (which translates into more than 300 large-capacity Dumpsters). The waste brought to the site is divided into assigned containers each for a different type of waste. The shares of each waste type (as percentages of the total weight) are presented in the chart below. The facility is used mainly by people living in the eighth district (35 %), followed by Prague 9 (13 %), and Prague 7 (11 %), while the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and tenth districts account for 7 % each. The balance is made up by Prague 1 (2 %) and Prague 2 (4 %). The percentages listed above also reflect the total population of each district. The waste collection site was used by more than 0.2 % of Prague’s population.

Relative representation of different waste types in the waste turned over at the Voctáoova Waste Collection Site

Source: OIM MHMP

Total amount of waste turned over at the Voctárova Waste Collection Site

Source: OIM MHMP 
 

OPTIMIZATION OF THE MUNICIPAL WASTE COLLECTION SYSTEM IN PRAGUE

Until the end of 1997 when Prague surrendered the business of municipal waste collection and disposal to the free hand of the market there had been 14 collection companies authorized by the Municipality of Prague collecting waste in the territory of Prague. Other companies were dealing in the collection of separated waste, others provided large-capacity Dumpsters.

To improve the overall municipal waste management and disposal system city authorities acting in accordance with Act No. 125/1997 Coll. (Waste Act) started implementing a new system the purpose of which is to have comprehensive waste management services (collection of mixed, separated, and bulk waste, including the maintenance and cleaning of waste collection points) in a particular area or district provided by a single company.

The map shows the first phase of the optimization of the collection system designed for both mixed and sorted municipal waste. Subsequent phases will also focus on bulk waste.

Optimization of the mixed waste collection system in Prague

LANDFILLS AND HISTORICAL POLLUTION AND/OR WASTE-DUMPING SITES

In 1997 and 1998 the Department of Environment of the Prague City Hall continued to identify and develop an inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites.

To develop and maintain the inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites the Department makes use of the ISSKLAD software package which also provides links to maps produced by the GIS ArcView SW (land-use plan, cadastral maps, information from the Land Register, aerial photographs, and other supporting maps) and permits the data to be statistically evaluated. In the end of 1997 the program was also made available to the Infrastructure Department (whose responsibilities include, inter alia, waste management and related roles of local governments) and the Municipal Property Department (responsible for arranging and funding the elimination of illegal dumping sites situated on land lots owned and used by the Municipality of Prague. These arrangements provide for an updating of information pertaining to the removal and current state of illegal waste dumping sites on the land in the ownership of Prague.

Step-by-Step Approach

In the first stage (1996) the territory of the fifth and sixth districts of Prague was mapped. Stage II (October 1996 - December 1997) focused on the belts running along both banks of the Vltava River and the northern part of Prague. All in all, the mapping has identified approximately 550 landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites in this territory. Stage III comprises selected parts of the eighth, ninth, and tenth districts of Prague. The inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites for the whole territory of Prague should be completed in 1999.

Since January 1, 1998 a new Waste Act and related regulations have been in force which are reflected and taken into account in the inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites and data evaluations.

Cooperation with District Offices

The purpose of the project is not just an inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites but mainly their sanitization or elimination. Therefore, the City Hall of Prague makes the data, including the ISSKLAD SW package gradually available to appropriate district authorities. These authorities become the administrators of the data on the landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites in their jurisdictional territory. Once a year (as of May 31) they update the data which they are responsible for, and hand them over to the central database maintained by the Department of Environment of the Prague City Hall. For the time being, this arrangement works with the District Offices of Prague 5 and Prague 6, and the Local Office of Prague 14.

Use of the Inventory of Landfills and Historical Pollution and/or Waste-Dumping Sites

Based on the data from the inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites the Department of Environment of the Prague City Hall in cooperation with IMIP and Hydrosoft Veleslavín, s.r.o. prepared four thematic maps on the subject in 1997. These were included in the second volume of the Atlas of the Prague Environment.

Data from the inventory of landfills and historical pollution and/or waste-dumping sites is frequently used as supporting information for urban planning studies prepared in cooperation with the City Development Authority of Prague which has its own information system comprising the data on sources of stream pollution.

Sanitization of the Biological Pond in Vinor

The method selected to solve the problem consisted in excavating the mud and depositing it on a safe dumpsite. Following a public tender, the contract was awarded to SOH s.r.o., Benátky nad Jizerou, which operates a modern industrial and municipal waste disposal facility. The excavation took place in two stages, first to a depth of 0.5 m, then down to 1.5 m. The mud-excavation operation was accompanied by a detailed analytical survey. All the mud containing more than 25 ppm of cadmium was stripped and removed. It was found out that the contaminated area was much larger than the pond itself. The total amount of stripped and removed deposits was 19,380 tons.

In autumn 1996 the sanitization of the U Pohanku Pond, the first pond in the whole system of Vinor ponds, commenced as well. Because of technical difficulties involved a method consisting in excavating the contaminated soil and replacing it with quarry stone (aggregate) was selected. The company SOH s.r.o., Benátky nad Jizerou, removed more than 6,500 tons of contaminated mud, and brought more than 9,000 tons of aggregate and spread it over the bottom. The sanitization also included paving the dam and reinforcing it with stone, levelling the banks, and other technical measures. In the end of the project (September 1997), the Institute of Geochemistry of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Charles University prepared a report confirming the success of the project.