Study: Country’s residents make effort to reduce waste, but its volume grows

• The survey demonstrated that as much as 89% of the country’s residents aim to reduce their municipal waste.
• However, the amount of waste per capita in Lithuania is steadily growing.
• Ignitis Group Vilnius and Kaunas CHPs’ teams are making the public aware of the importance of waste sorting and the circular economy.

The attitude Lithuanians towards waste management is changing significantly, with increasing amounts of waste sorted responsibly, and with more types of waste treated and recycled. However, the amount of waste generated is not decreasing, even though people say they are making effort to reduce it.

Spinter Research, commissioned by the international energy company Ignitis Group, carried out an opinion survey of the residents on waste sorting. The survey demonstrated that as much as 89% of the residents aim to reduce the waste they routinely generate. Still, one in ten people in the country recognize that they do not attempt to reduce waste at all.

Based on the survey results, women, people in the lowest income group and those living in rural areas more often reported making high effort to reduce waste amounts. Those in the higher income group and urban inhabitants make little effort to do so.

According to the latest Eurostat data, Lithuania generated 464 kg of municipal waste per capita per year in 2018. This number was 387 kg back in 2005, thus the amount of municipal waste generated in our country is growing. By comparison, the European Union average was 492 kg of municipal waste per capita in 2018 and has been rising slightly in recent years.

“To reduce waste, the European Union has set targets to sort and recycle as much waste as possible, and to convert it into energy if it is no longer recyclable. This way, less and less waste would go to landfills. However, in Lithuania, about a quarter of municipal waste is still landfilled, and if we take into account technical compost, which actually also goes to landfills, we would have as much as about half of all municipal waste going to landfills. In this respect, we are far behind the leaders. For instance, in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, only 1% of municipal waste goes to landfills”, says Nerijus Rasburskis, Head of Ignitis Group Heat and Power Solutions Department.

CHP plants that use municipal and non-hazardous industrial waste for energy recovery significantly reduce environmental pollution by preventing landfill pollution, both from methane release and leachate entering groundwater. CHP plant operations are an important part of the circular economy, and this is critical in the transition period when both the public and the industry will have to change dramatically. Industry must manufacture recyclable products and packaging, and only such goods must be demanded by the public.

To encourage a greater public interest in the principles and benefits of the circular economy, and to learn more about how to reduce and sort waste, the teams of Vilnius and Kaunas CHPs have created educational websites www.vkj.lt/ziedineekonomika and www.kkj.lt/ziedineekonomika. They explain why waste recovery is important, how other countries are tackling waste management issues, provide interesting facts and present the role of CHP plants in the circular economy.

Everyone can contribute to the circular economy, even by taking small steps to change production, consumption and waste management habits.

Excessive consumption and rapidly growing amount of textile waste are among the most visible challenges today. According to Viktorija Nausėdė, the founder of TEXTALE.lt, a platform for responsible consumption education and for promoting clothing sharing, textile reuse, repurposing and recycling, the problems open up new opportunities while a systemic approach is particularly important in the circular economy.

She said that thanks to its well-developed second-hand clothing import, sorting and trade sector, our country is well-known and appreciated in the context of the circular economy across Europe. However, too little is being done to bring the surplus textiles generated domestically back into consumption. Most of the textiles that are no longer needed in Lithuania are still managed as waste. EU Member States have committed to setting up separate collection systems for textiles by the beginning of 2025. This is already starting to happen in Lithuania, but the main challenge remains how to make the most of the collected textile flows, while preserving their maximum value in the chain.

As the European Union moves along its Green Deal, a responsible attitude and participation in waste reduction by consumers, communities and the public, private and non-governmental sectors is increasingly emphasised. According to Viktorija Nausėdė, Lithuanian consumer communities are quite active and willingly participate in item sharing schemes, they also engage in repair, renovation and repurposing activities. System innovations and new business models are opening up opportunities for new business start-ups, while technological advances are boosting the development of the textile sorting and recycling industry. Social responsibility of business and industries as well as cooperation between the ecosystem actors at different parts of the chain are prerequisites for creating truly sustainable systems. And consumer education seems to be the bridge that connects all the players in the circular economy for the common goal.

Survey information: Opinion survey on waste management of June 2020 by Spinter Research surveyed 1008 respondents aged between 18 and 75.

About CHP plants:

Vilnius CHP will have a total power generation capacity of approximately 100 MW, and a thermal capacity of approximately 240 MW. Vilnius CHP will generate energy from non-hazardous municipal waste and biofuels. Vilnius CHP will be able to incinerate about 160,000 tonnes of waste per year. The project is financed by the European Union’s Cohesion Fund.

Kaunas CHP has a total power generation capacity of approximately 26 MW and a thermal generation capacity of approximately 70 MW. Kaunas CHP generates energy from non-recyclable municipal and non-hazardous industrial waste. Kaunas CHP can incinerate around 200,000 tonnes of waste per year.