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Environmental impact of waste

The quantity of household waste is increasing due to the increase in imported goods with their elaborate packaging. Since the production capacity of Latvia is expected to increase in the near future, a corresponding increase in the quantity of hazardous wastes is also expected. However, since production development forecasts are not yet available, it is also not possible to forecast the increase in the amount of hazardous waste.

Waste storage sites are significant sources of localised water, air and soil pollution. The quality of life of local populations is decreased and, in many cases, drinking water is polluted (see`Low quality of drinking water`). Landfills are usually very poorly planned and equipped, and are mostly overburdened. Since the dumping of waste is not properly controlled, hazardous wastes are often dumped in addition to regular household wastes.

Uncontrolled waste dumping in the territory of Latvia is a serious concern. It pollutes forests, degrades landscapes and creates hundreds of illegal local waste dumps containing wastes of unknown composition and origin. Old landfills that are closed continue to pollute groundwater. This process may continue for many years unless necessary measures are undertaken to rectify the situation (see `Risks created by economic activities`).

Liquid industrial wastes, including toxic wastes, are often discharged into domestic sewerage systems, thus damaging water treatment facilitates and highly polluting the water (see also `Eutrofication of water courses and degradation of water ecosystems` and `Risks created by economic activities`).

During the course of privatisation of industrial enterprises and territories, stockpiles of raw materials and by-products, pesticides, artificial fertilisers, and other chemical substances have been left without control. The same refers to many materials abandoned by the Russian army. In most cases they can be considered waste, often hazardous waste. Their storage conditions are often unacceptable and may present direct threats to human health and ecosystems.

Waste is a loss of useful materials that it would be better to recycle or reuse.

There are several causes to problems connected with waste, the most significant of them being:

• lack of policies for waste minimisation and reuse;
• underdeveloped waste management systems and a lack of associated infrastructure;
• heritage of a socialist national economy in production, agriculture and municipal systems.

As the problems are of complex origin, several groups of measures should be taken into account.

Waste minimisation:

A group of measures directed at the cause, that should produce substantial and lasting results. For decreasing the amount of household/domestic waste, long-term solutions are necessary; but shorter-term measures are necessary for minimising hazardous wastes (it should be noted that new enterprises will lay a major role here). This group of measures is divided according to type of waste:

Household waste minimisation can be implemented by:

• Education of the public, often using mass media or NGOs. State administrative institutions should provide NGOs with the appropriate information, since these organisations are in a good position to undertake meaningful activities and disseminate this information further to the mass media etc.
• Local governments to bear the responsibility for waste collection. If the real costs of waste collection and treatment were passed on to the public, consumers may be inspired to change their attitude towards waste.
• Natural resources tax on packaging, and extra cost for packaging on top of product cost.

Industrial waste minimisation:

As industries are the main source of hazardous wastes which present particular threats to human health and ecosystems, industrial waste minimisation should be a priority. The best applicable measures in this group are the following:

Introduction of new technologies and equipment:

Substantial discussion of these measures can be found in sections `Transboundary pollution`, therefore only the most important instruments will be stressed here:

• Pilot and demonstration projects.
• Soft loans with local and regional government guarantees on such loans.
• Plans for the construction of new facilities; designs should be based on the best available technology principle.
• Public investments (in exceptional cases).

Transition to the use of less hazardous or cleaner raw materials (see the principle of substitution).

Establishment of a system of incentives for the minimisation of waste generation:

Instruments:

• Payment for the final disposal of waste. This instrument should be applied to enterprises that specialise in the recycling or final disposal of wastes;
• Tax relief for cleaner production;
• ‘Good housekeeping’ approach provides significant savings for producers, and is an investment in the improvement of the quality of the environment. Education and information also play a significant role here.

 Box 17.

Imported wastes:

The issue of imported hazardous wastes is legally solved by the law ‘On hazardous wastes’ that prohibits the import of any hazardous wastes. Environmental management administrative structures should pay particular attention to enforcement in order to avoid the illegal import of wastes in this category.

The issue of imported household wastes is partially discussed in the section ‘Household waste minimisation’. However, it is possible to import household wastes in Latvia for reprocessing or final disposal.

Therefore, it is necessary to draft a law ‘On household wastes’ as soon as possible, to create significant obstacles for the import of such wastes.

In regards to industrial wastes that do not fall into the category of hazardous wastes, a law ‘On industrial wastes’ should be drafted.

Reuse of waste

These are measures directed both at causes and consequences, that can be implemented in the short to medium-term at all levels, from national to local, usually relating to the reuse of glass and hard plastic containers, polyethylene products, car tyres, scrap metal, paper, etc.

The reuse of glass containers (bottles and jars) was reasonably well organised until the beginning of the 90s. With the dramatic increase of imported goods and new packaging technologies, the reuse system has practically disappeared. It is necessary to take steps that would reestablish this system as soon as possible.

• This measure is mainly based on economic incentives. The major principles should be included in the law ‘On Natural Resources Tax’ (see `Economic instruments`);
• Household information - why and how to reuse household items. This would be best carried out by NGOs, mass media and local governments.

This measure can also be applied to sludge derived from wastewater treatment processes, by using it as fertiliser - provided it is possible to control the heavy metal content.

Final disposal of waste. Includes several measures that significantly minimises wastes, and accordingly minimises its negative impact on the environment. The best measures are:

Waste recycling. Cause and effect oriented measures. In regards to hazardous wastes, it is also necessary to consider the possibilities for co-operation with the other Baltic states. This can be implemented by several instruments:

• Tax relief for enterprises engaged in waste recycling;
• Tax relief for recycled goods;
• Support from regional and local government enterprises engaged in waste treatment;
• Public education/information to promote the separation of household wastes before collection - paper, glass, organic substances (see also Establishment of separate waste collection systems.

Biological treatment that would include composting, biological water treatment, the use of organic waste as food for domestic animals, production of biogas, etc.

Establishment of separate waste collection systems is the first step necessary for any waste recycling scheme. It was partly used before 1990, when food scraps were separated and used as cattle-feed, and can be applied both in household and production situations. The necessary instruments are:

• standards and norms for industrial wastes;
• ‘good housekeeping’ practices in enterprises;
• informing and educating the public in regards to the separation of household wastes. This should be overseen by local governments, but local and national NGOs could be involved in its implementation.

Incineration. Quite a successful measure for decreasing the total volume of waste. However, other problems are created, such as air pollution and secondary physical wastes (slag and ash). Incineration could be used in addition to all the above-mentioned measures, and only when there is significant volume of waste, e.g. in towns.

Incineration of household and industrial wastes should be managed by local governments, that would also be responsible for all the incineration by-products. However, this principle could also be adopted by individual enterprises or groups of enterprises. Incineration of hazardous wastes should be managed the State. To introduction a waste incineration system, the following instruments are necessary:

• subsidies from local budgets;
• loan guarantees;
• soft loans from national and international sources;
• application of Western experience.

Organised waste dumping. This measure should be implemented over the medium to long-term, since it requires large investments for the construction of new, well-equipped waste-collection depots, the reconstruction of existing collection depots, and the development of an integrated collection system.

The collection of household and non-toxic wastes should be carried out at the local and regional levels, while the collection of hazardous wastes should be carried out mainly on a national level. Several policy instruments are applicable here, the most appropriate being:

• regulations, standards and norms for the development and redevelopment of landfills, as well as waste disposal systems, in order to ensure control over the use of landfills by environmental management administrative structures and local governments (for a more detailed discussion see section `Environmental control`);
• territorial planning at various levels;
• planning measures, the practical application of geological data and studies for siting and establishing new landfills, in order to avoid problems like the dispersal of hazardous substances (see `Risks created by economic activities`), decrease in biodiversity, landscape degradation (`Reduction of biodiversity`, `Landscape degradation`) and low drinking water quality (`Low quality of drinking water`);
• covenants and co-operation between different levels of administration (with respect to hazardous wastes, between national and local authorities; in regards to landfills for household waste between the different levels of local governments);
• development of a unified national system for the collection and dumping of hazardous wastes;
• EIAs for waste disposal sites;
• when establishing new landfills, local government investment funds should be used. These landfills should be managed by local government enterprises, but should allow the possibility to transfer management to private enterprise. In such cases, soft loans or local government guarantees could be extended to the private enterprises (in the case of hazardous wastes - State guarantees);
• payments for dumping waste to be used to cover costs of waste management and the construction or redevelopment of landfills; these payments should be high enough to promote waste minimisation and recycling;
• compilation of an inventory of sources of waste.

Clean-up of old landfills. This is an important group of measures that also provides a solution for problems that are discussed in sections `Risks created by economic activities`, `Landscape degradation`, and `Low quality of drinking water`. Implementation of this measure is usually the task of local governments, but in exceptional cases, a task for the national government (in case of a serious threat to human health and ecosystems, or if local governments cannot resolve the issue.) Here, the main measures are biological recycling (production of biogas), minimisation of pollution dispersal, incineration, etc. The most significant instruments are the following:

• monitoring,
• EIAs;
• local or national government financing.

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Last updated: November 8, 1996. The information prepared by Valts Vilnitis: fuxis@varam.gov.lv