21.02.2025.
Waste management is an activity that requires compliance with complex prescribed conditions governed by national and EU regulations. Each person who manages waste must hold a relevant licence that determines the conditions of the location and building in which the waste is managed, the types and quantities of waste and the method of its treatment, ensuring a prerequisite for waste management warranting a safe and healthy environment.However, irresponsible behaviour of some persons and unlawful handling of waste, fly-tipping at locations that do not meet the prescribed conditions, unlicensed operation, or working in violation of the licence, jeopardises human health, environment, and safety, and the removal of such waste is considered to be the protection of the public interest.
The planned amendments to the Waste Management Act are aimed at stricter conditions for obtaining waste management permits in such a way that they will not be issued to persons who have not fulfilled their obligations in accordance with the regulations, and their permits were revoked for acting contrary to the regulations, especially due to actions that may pose a risk to human health and the environment. Likewise, it is planned to add provisions on strengthening the control of transboundary transport, as well as the possibility that the ministry may perform professional supervision over issued permits.
In order to protect human health and the environment, as well as public interest, the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, launched a Call for the submission of data on locations with illegal dumpsites in the areas of local self-government units. This is a follow-up on the years-long implementation of the programme for the removal of the so-called illegal dumpsites, which the Fund has so far co-financed to cities and municipalities.
The intention of this call, previously announced in the 2025 Indicative Plan, is to collect data on locations where waste has been illegally disposed of and for which decisions on its removal have been issued, where this removal has not been carried out by the entity/person who dumped the waste. Local self-government units that report such landfills to the Fund must submit all necessary information, including, among other things, the type and estimated quantities of dumped waste found at the site, as well as information on the polluter, if known. Based on the submitted data from local self-government units, the Ministry and the Fund will determine the criteria and undertake the necessary measures and activities within their competences for the final removal of unlawfully disposed waste from the locations concerned.
