This Directive regulates issues related to waste and its disposal. In this case we are talking regarding food and textile waste. How will compliance with the requirements of this directive affect all residents of Latvia and what changes will it entail?
Food: we buy responsibly
– The first and most important thing that the amendments to the above-mentioned European Directive are aimed at, in the part where it concerns food products, is to combat irrational consumption and, accordingly, losses in this area. Let’s be honest: society as a whole today treats food quite frivolously. Many people buy more than they can physically consume, and as a result, some of the purchased products spoil and go into the trash, says Rudite Vesere, Acting Undersecretary of State for Ecological Affairs at VARAM, Director of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Our task is to ensure that the volume of food waste is as small as possible; ideally, by 2030 it will be reduced by 30% compared to the amount of food waste we had in 2020. This applies to both manufacturers, traders, catering and logistics (enterprises that supply food), and households. We all need to change our approach to purchasing and consuming food: to take a conscious and responsible approach to the question of what we buy, in what quantity, for what period of time.
Today, many people stock their supermarket trolleys full of groceries for a variety of reasons. Some people are stocking up “in full” – say, for a week, some have a family celebration coming up, others are simply buying, wanting to take advantage of a promotion or just in case. The reasons can be very different, but in the end, a lot of good, benign products turn into waste.
Therefore, it is necessary to encourage people to radically change their shopping habits, in particular, before going to the store, think and evaluate what a person REALLY needs. Plan your grocery purchases rationally, without buying based on the principle of “where your eyes land.” By the way, thereby benefiting your own family budget.
– And how do you plan to achieve the re-education of society? Increase food prices even more? But these prices are already quite high – especially when compared with the income of the population of Latvia. Even foreigners from wealthy countries note that prices in Latvia are “biting”!
– No, increasing their cost is absolutely not considered as a measure to reduce the thoughtless purchase of food products. And we are not planning any additional tax or anything similar that might affect the increase in prices. The first step in this direction is educational: we intend to attract public attention to this problem, urge people to take a responsible and balanced approach to their purchases, to buy only what they can actually use. In a word, do everything to prevent food products from becoming waste just because their owner was unable to use them for their intended purpose and had to be thrown away.
However, working with the average consumer is only a small part of what remains to be done. In parallel, we will work with retail and catering enterprises: so that they do not have too large surpluses of unclaimed products, and if they do, so that they are used as rationally as possible. For example, so that prepared but unclaimed dishes, which for some reason cannot be stored longer, are donated to charity. Or, by the end of the working day, reduce the cost of unsold products, semi-finished products with limited storage, etc.: many people who do not have the opportunity to buy some kind of “exclusive” at full price will be happy to buy it, for example, for half or even a third of the price ! By the way, as far as I know, this is already practiced in some establishments. The benefit is obvious: the customers feel good, and the merchant, instead of throwing it away, at least helps out with something, and the waste container doesn’t get full…
The second measure that we have already begun is the introduction of mandatory separation of biological waste from the total mass of household waste. According to our calculations, biological waste accounts for an average of 40% of the total volume of household waste; Sorting will significantly reduce the volume of what is sent to landfills.
From the editor: When the requirement for the mandatory placement of containers specifically for biological waste came into force, I specifically – at the request of readers – asked representatives of recycling companies whether they would differ from containers for recycling glass, paper and plastic, which would be logical, since biowaste, unlike the mentioned waste, they tend to decompose (especially in the heat), emit unpleasant odors, attract crows, rodents, insects… But it turned out that the only difference is in color; no special containers are provided for this.
– Counter argument: doesn’t the same thing happen if residents throw away biowaste along with regular household garbage? Naturally it happens! As for biocontainers, the only reason why they can cause problems and discomfort for residents is if people do not close them. But if the lid is tightly closed every time, not a single living creature will penetrate there, and the smell will not spread, it will remain in the container itself.
The second important point: biocontainers are relatively small in size – thus, they will be filled and, accordingly, removed more often than other waste. Determining what the optimal capacity of a biocontainer should be in the specific case of each house, tracking at what point it is full, and organizing its timely removal – all this is the responsibility of the house manager in agreement with the company providing disposal services.
Textiles: pay tax or participate!
– This is a huge problem – and on a global scale. There is not just a lot of textile waste in the world, there is an incredible amount of it. If we talk regarding Latvia, then a significant share – approximately a quarter of the total volume of textile products that are imported to us from other countries is used – that is, already used. It turns out that in some countries stores are getting rid of goods they don’t need, but we accept them here.
The second component of the problem is that most of our residents today have entire “warehouses” of clothes and shoes in their homes, which are either outdated and no longer want to be worn, or no longer fit, or were simply purchased by mistake. Throw it away – the hand doesn’t rise, but where to put it?
Meanwhile, there is a completely worthy way out – for example, donating to charity. The fact that people actively use the opportunity to send unnecessary things to a special container – with the idea that these clothes or shoes will be quite useful to someone, confirms that this issue is very relevant for the population. It must be said that worn things do not necessarily have to serve exactly their original purpose: for example, skilled needlewomen give old things a second life. We even have brands in Latvia that specialize in making clothes from just such “raw materials”! This is much better than if an unnecessary, but quite strong and good thing turns out to be thrown away and rotting somewhere in a landfill. Especially if it’s a synthetic thing. As you know, the modern market offers people more and more synthetics, and less and less clothes and shoes made from natural materials…
The point of the changes proposed by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU is to improve this situation by managing the flow of textile waste, which, in turn, involves a number of measures. Firstly, these are measures aimed at reducing waste, reusing it and recycling textiles. Secondly, it is the implementation of the “polluter pays” principle. That is, the introduction of extended responsibility for manufacturers of textile products: they are held responsible not only for producing and selling their goods, but also for the materials from which they made their products, as well as for the further fate of the produced textile products when they come out out of use. A similar system has been working for years in relation to packaging, electrical and electronic goods, car tires, etc. Now it is the turn to introduce it in relation to clothing, shoes, bed linen, and home textiles.
– It is not entirely clear how the manufacturer can be responsible for the future fate of the sold product. Let’s say a certain consumer bought a certain thing, at first he liked it, then he didn’t like it, and he sent it to the container. What does the manufacturer of this thing have to do with it?
– The manufacturer’s responsibility lies elsewhere – in waste management. We are talking regarding his active participation in the process, as a result of which an out-of-service textile product ends up not in a landfill, but finds a second life: either it ends up in the trade in used goods (the so-called second-hand goods), or is recycled , or is used in some other way – depending on its condition. This involves the installation of specialized containers where people can send items they have no longer used for free, as well as broad and active cooperation between manufacturers and social enterprises, merchants providing waste disposal services, municipalities, volunteers working at collection points, etc. d.
– Additional responsibilities of the manufacturer will inevitably cause him additional costs. How will this affect the final cost of the goods he produces? Will this cause an increase in the price of textile goods from local producers?
– Perhaps this will affect the final price of the goods, but I think not much. In addition, we must not forget that in Latvia, regardless of the European Directive, from July 1 of this year a tax on natural resources will be introduced in relation to textile products that are sold in Latvia. This means that everyone who has a commercial activity related to textiles – either a merchant engaged in importing, or trading, or manufacturing – will be required to pay this tax; it will be 50 cents per kilogram.
However, if a merchant is ready to take on certain obligations (see above) and fulfill them or enters into an agreement with merchants on extended responsibility for textile manufacturers (providing services for the disposal of textile waste), then he will be exempt from this tax. And although he will naturally have some additional expenses, per unit of production this will be negligible. For example, the cost of a blouse may increase by 3 eurocents, the cost of jeans – by 10 eurocents, etc. In other words, we intend to build tax policy in such a way that it would be more profitable for an entrepreneur to reduce the amount of textile waste and participate in the process of recycling it. processing than just paying tax.
#garbage #rules #residents #Latvia
2024-04-27 08:58:36
