Circular Economy and Waste Management conference summary

: Category: News; Published: 18 October 2024

The FUTURE FORWARD: Circular Economy and Waste Management conference held at ENVIRONTEC culminated with a day of insightful presentations, particularly beneficial for those passionate about circular economy and waste management. Hosted by the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and the Hungarian Association of Environmental Enterprises (HAEE), this professional knowledge-sharing event offered a comprehensive understanding of the waste management landscape in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, particularly in the context of transitioning to circular waste management.

The conference kicked off with a high-energy attempt to urgently address the pressing waste management challenges. Dr. Krisztina Wégner, an esteemed international waste management expert and the conference host, set the tone for the event. Her playful yet insightful lesson was followed by the introduction of 12 speakers from 8 countries, fulfilling the organisers' vision of a truly international professional dialogue at ENVIRONTEC.

The transition to a circular economy is not just a change in approach, but a significant opportunity for Europe. This shift presents both opportunities and challenges, but by leveraging the experience and technologies developed, we can accelerate the transition and turn these challenges into a competitive advantage, underscoring the importance of the audience's work in this field.

Anikó Raisz, the State Secretary for the Environment and the Circular Economy at the Ministry of Energy, set the tone for the conference in her opening speech. She underscored the pivotal role of cooperation in waste management, be it among businesses, governments, countries, or value chains. The Secretary of State also drew attention to the low level of industrial symbiosis, the scarcity of critical elements, and their uneven geographical distribution. These factors, she stressed, should be considered to elevate the level of circulation and symbiosis in waste management.

The subsequent presentations effectively addressed these challenges, particularly by highlighting the potential of cross-border cooperation as a key solution, instilling a sense of hope and optimism in the audience.

The conference's guest of honour, James Law, came straight from the US as the newly elected President of ISWA's South African conference. In his introductory speech, he welcomed the members and officials present and expressed his anticipation for cooperation between the ISWA Regional Chapter members for Southeast Europe. The organisers were very honoured that ISWA had a stand at the expo. James Law also spoke at the RE:BROWN Remediation Conference, as he specialises in landfill remediation.

ISWA Vice President Arne Ragossnig presented the new ISWA film "The Next Cycle". He then outlined ISWA's role in the coming years and outlined 15 points of the cornerstones for the future of the world organisation. He highlighted the importance of political commitment in decision-making and the potential payback of waste management - if externalities can be internalised - and drew attention to the potential of integrating and optimising existing waste management systems to our advantage in the fight against climate change, including the right technology mix, considering for example the impact of introducing DRS systems on the operation of sorting facilities.

Katarina Svatikova, OECD Circular Economy Analyst, also gave the audience an insight into national subsidies and the waste management problems in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Among the horizontal challenges in the region, she highlighted the low number of SMEs, the low involvement of research and innovation, the lack of education and the capacity problems of the relevant national bodies.

In the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, landfill rates are still around 50% and illegal dumping and littering are still a problem. Efforts to move towards a circular approach have so far focused mainly on waste management, primarily in line with EU environmental legislation. These efforts have resulted in increased recycling rates, better waste sorting habits in households and a general increase in knowledge about waste prevention, the environment and the circular economy. However, much work remains to be done to achieve a truly circular economy.

All three countries need to focus more and allocate more resources to business solutions for waste prevention, sustainable production and consumption, awareness raising and education, and innovation activities to stimulate this. This is the only way to advance the transition to a circular economy by 2040.

Designing and manufacturing products in a more sustainable and circular way is a major challenge in increasing competitiveness. Fortunately, the necessary intellectual capital can be found, and improvements would also create quality jobs.

The OECD's Circular Economy Analyst detailed several areas for intervention, with key areas instructive in presenting economic instruments for a cost-effective transition, including taxing primary inputs, subsidising secondary inputs, and boosting green public procurement.

The three economic analyses can be downloaded here:

Towards a national strategic framework for the circular economy in the Czech Republic

Closing the loop in the Slovak Republic

Towards a National Circular Economy Strategy for Hungary

Steffen Hudolin, Head of Cooperation in the EU Delegation to North Macedonia, which is in the process of EU accession, outlined the challenges facing the Western Balkan country, highlighting the need for energy transformation in its extremely high dependence on fossil resources. Of course, raising the level of waste management to EU levels was also listed as a critical element, both environmentally and economically. EU funds should be mobilised to achieve this, e.g., through the IPA programme.

An important message from the speaker was that we should not wait for developments after EU membership, but what happens before! Preparation is necessary, and good decisions should be made at the beginning.

He presented the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which will provide €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in loans from 2024 to 2027.

Then came one of the big guns in plastics recycling, Bernard Merkx, Senior Advisor of the European Plastics Converters (EuPC), CEO of Green Wave Plastics, founder of Waste Free Oceans and many more. An internationally recognised expert, he has a wealth of good practice focusing on marine litter. There were many exciting examples, from fishing nets to suitcases to picnic furniture. Still, even BMW car manufacturers have a target to have recycled marine litter components in their new cars.

"Europe does not have the resources to make the transition, so resource management and the circular economy are of paramount importance for the continent." - He also mentioned the responsibility of the brand owners, who can integrate the "new", or more precisely recycled materials into their systems.

As it turned out, Bernard Merkx had already cleaned up Hungarian rivers before the Plastic Cup in the Waste Free Danube project framework. The project has been running since 2012 and holds regular clean-ups in Romania and Bulgaria.

Thanks to his perseverance and thoroughness, he has been able to find new uses for river, sea, and ocean plastics that many people find unusable. His latest project is the collection and recycling of the end-of-life fishing nets in collaboration with Plastix. After years of development and experimentation, a type of rope ("rope to rope") that can compete with primary materials has been developed to help ports reclaim old nets previously considered a costly nuisance.

You'll soon be able to get to know Bernard even better through the new Aquatic Plastic podcast, where we talk a bit about the pricing of plastics, the actual roots of the plastics problem and the career that led to international fame. It's worth subscribing to the channel...

Felix Badura, Managing Director of Digi-Cycle GmbH, also developed an exciting and innovative solution: an app to separate composite packaging waste. A digitally oriented interface helps consumers navigate the composite materials and points them to the right collection points. The aim is to make the development known throughout Europe soon.

The digitalisation expert also presented a range of applications, from logistics to manufacturers' voluntary take-back campaigns and technological improvements in sorting plants.

Szilvia Szabó, Head of the EPR of the Hungarian waste management concessor (MoHu), presented the details of the Hungarian return system launched last summer. The new system, which follows EU legislation, will, among other things, boost the collection of PET packaging, of which member states will have to achieve 77% by 2025 and 90% by 2029. The effectiveness of the recent introduction in neighbouring countries (Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania) is encouraging, with Austria, Portugal, Poland, and the UK soon to follow.

In Hungary, the first few months have resulted in a high number of collections, but to reach the targets, the number of collection points, the diversity of collection options and the range of products that can be returned need to be increased (17,600 packages are already in the system, of which 12% are refillable and a further 5,000 for validation).

To serve this diversity, the Mobile Return Machine (RVM) will support small REpoints and the HORECA sector (hotels, restaurants, and catering establishments) in collecting waste. The Hungarian innovation, developed by Returmatic Solutions Ltd., could be tested at the expo's entrance. The mobile machine instantly counts and compacts the poured-in packaging materials.

Aleksandra Vučinić Anić, President of the Croatian Waste Management Association (CROWMA), gave an overview of the collection situation in her country. Croatia's geographical location, with only five large cities and more than a thousand islands, poses a real challenge for operators. They are also having problems with the registration of collected waste.

Aleksandra is also a professor at the University of Zagreb, where she calculates the real costs of waste management in the context of the "polluter pays principle" and the composition of cost bearers, the economic context, and improving financing.

She also pointed out a few shortcomings, such as the lack of marketing and waste-to-energy data for single-use (SUP) plastics, which significantly complicates cost calculations.

Aleksandra represents Croatia in ISWA through CROWMA and is a pillar member of ISWA Regional Chapter for Southeast Europe. Thanks to this, the series of professional meetings will continue at their premises on 9-10 December:

XVII International symposium on waste management in Zagreb

Mihail Mateski, President of the Macedonian Solid Waste Association (MASWA), confirmed the Western Balkan picture in his presentation, detailing the waste management challenges in Serbia and North Macedonia. He surprised the audience when he presented the available European-standard processing technologies and capacities, which are currently operated with waste imported from abroad due to insufficient quantities and quality of raw materials. This also confirmed what he had said before, that the actors and capacities in the supply and processing chain should be harmonised, thus reducing emissions from transport and other activities.

A further technical tidbit on PET recovery was that more PET was recovered in 2018 than in Hungary. This is another indication of the technologies and capacities available to which collection, financing, and the attitude of the public and industry must be adapted.

The conference's final speaker, Ruslan Shvarts, summarised the waste management options in war-torn Ukraine as the head of LLC Zakarpatekovtorsyrovyna, the largest waste collection company in Transcarpathia. In his thought-provoking speech, he used practical images to illustrate the problematic working conditions, the lack of human resources, and the changing composition and location of waste.

A PhD student at the University of Uzhhorod, he highlighted the problem of saturation of landfills, which leads to continuous soil and water pollution. In addition, recycling and waste processing facilities are inadequate, and illegal dumping and open burning are significant contributors to air pollution. The complex problem is challenging to solve in such an economic and political context. Still, work is being done daily to achieve higher collection, processing and recovery levels.

The lack of collection points and drop-off yards has led to the concept of the Ecobus, which waits for residents to drop off their selective waste at predetermined points and times. Waste is weighed and paid for locally. The creation and future development of the initiative is supported by DIAGEO's "Call-Action" project under the professional leadership of the Plastic Cup Society. It is also from this project that baling companies have been deployed in municipalities where there is currently no waste collection. Residents from several municipalities use a small sorting point next to the baler to collect recyclable waste, which reduces the amount of waste going into the environment, and the sorting and baling creates jobs in the area.