Big money for biogas plants. Municipalities should have an easier time managing bio-waste
- In the near future there will be large amounts of money from the European Investment Bank for two programs supporting investments in bio-waste management.
- The new version of the program is to be more accessible than the previous one.
- The Ministry of Climate expects that local governments will continue to support home composting.
The European Investment Bank will soon allocate significant funds to two programmes supporting investments in bio-waste management .
One of these programs, worth one billion złoty, has already been approved. It provides support for municipal biogas - 40 percent of the funds will be subsidies, and the rest will be available in the form of loans.
- says Marek Goleń, director of the Waste Management Department at the Ministry of Climate and Environment.
- We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the plans of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management to start work on future projects. This will be a completely new deal - although the program is a continuation of the previous one, it will be implemented on completely new principles - he adds.
Local governments can count on support for investments in biogas plantsThe main criterion for granting support will be energy efficiency. The Ministry is particularly keen to ensure that the input to the installation is municipal waste, selectively collected by residents.
- I believe that projects based on co-fermentation, in which part of the input will come from municipal waste and part - for example - from the agri-food industry - will have the greatest chance of success - explains Director Goleń.
The new version of the program is to be more accessible than the previous one . Until now, local government officials complained that technological requirements limited the possibilities of reaching for support, the fact is that in the completed program, only Bydgoszcz received a subsidy - after many months of recruitment. The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is considering other applications, but it concerns only a few potential investments.
I don't want to say that it will be easier to get support now, but we have actually removed all the barriers that were in the previous program, there are no restrictions on technology, there should only be an effect that meets the goals of the energy transformation
- explains Marek Golen.
As the department director at the Ministry of Culture and Environment says, local governments should apply for support from the programme because they need to devote more attention to using the potential of bio-waste.
- This stream contains the largest reserve of percentage points that municipalities must earn in order to implement the assumptions resulting from EU directives and our regulations. If municipalities want to achieve these goals, they will not be able to do so without managing the bio-waste stream , because the overall biomass stream in municipal waste is about 30-40%, and for now the effects of this recycling are small and there is still a lot to gain here - adds Marek Goleń.
The Ministry wants to encourage municipalities to support composting in multi-family buildingsThe Ministry of Climate and Environment wants urban areas - where the potential for home composting is lower than in rural areas - to also be able to achieve the required levels of bio-waste recycling.
The idea is for municipal biogas to be produced from kitchen waste, while green waste should be sent to composting plants.
- explains director Goleń.
The Ministry of Climate also counts on continued support for home composting from local governments.
- I hope that this direction will continue to develop. Home composting is the best way to achieve a positive effect - both ecological and systemic. This solution fits perfectly into the principles of the circular economy: waste is managed on site, it does not require transport. This is the most desirable direction of change, which is why I encourage municipalities to popularize it - adds our interlocutor.
In its latest legislative proposal, the Ministry of Climate and Environment also intends to encourage municipalities to support composting in multi-family buildings.
- It will not be mandatory, as is the case with single-family housing, but we want to give municipalities the optional possibility of managing bio-waste at source - where it is possible and necessary - explains director Goleń.
When asked about problems related to social acceptance of investments in waste management, Director Goleń emphasizes:
- A well-run biogas plant does not emit bothersome odors - this can be effectively controlled. The appropriate location of such investments is also key, preferably where they do not arouse controversy . Although spatial planning is not within the competence of our ministry, we will support activities that will make it easier for municipalities to implement investments that are often perceived as burdensome, even though in reality they are not - adds our interlocutor.
The conversation with Marek Golen, director of the Waste Management Department at the Ministry of Climate and Environment, was recorded during the 17th European Economic Congress in Katowice.
