Three new Czech incinerators to burn EU regional funds

Prague- CEE Bankwatch Network has learnt that the Czech Republic is planning to use 80% of regional funds dedicated to big waste projects for 2007-2013 [1] for the construction of new incinerators, which are three times more expensive than alternative waste management solutions.

The Czech Republic plans to build three new incinerators with EU regional funds available for big waste management projects in the current EU budget (2007-2013). According to information provided to CEE Bankwatch Network by the Czech State Environmental Fund, a mechanical-biological waste treatment plant (MBT, the more ecological alternative for waste disposal) would be three times cheaper per installed ton capacity to build than incinerators. This difference will eventually be passed on to the households in price for waste management.

180 million Euros of the incinerators’ cost are to be subsidized from EU regional funds, if the Czech application is accepted. By comparison, six new MBTs that the country plans to build as well, and which represent a much more ecological option, will require only 43 million Euros in EU subsidies. [2]

Incinerators are not only three times more expensive but they also produce toxic waste and they are significant sources of air pollution. Furthermore, because they burn waste without any previous sorting, they destroy valuable resources contained in waste. Mechanical-biological treatment plants, on the other hand, enable the recovery of materials contained within the mixed waste and facilitate the stabilisation of the biodegradable component of the material.

“Incinerators are extremely expensive facilities,” says Bankwatch waste campaigner Ivo Kropacek. “Support for such overpriced projects from taxpayer money is not clever. This is thrice true in the case of incinerators, which are three times more expensive than other methods of dealing with municipal waste.”

Bankwatch calls on the European Commission not to allow the Czech Republic to use EU money in such a counter-productive way, which additionally goes against EU waste legislation [3]. Cheaper and more sustainable solutions clearly exist and they must be promoted. [4]

Furthermore, considering that the new Cohesion Policy regulations published last month by the Commission do not exclude the use of EU regional funds for harmful projects in the next EU budget 2014-2020 [5], Bankwatch encourages the European Parliament and Council to amend the regulation texts so that incinerators are explicitly excluded from the types of projects that can be financed with EU money after 2014.

For more information, contact:

Ivo Kropacek
CEE Bankwatch Network waste campaigner
ivo.kropacek AT hnutiduha.cz
Tel: +420 604 207 302

Notes for the editors:

1. Member States are at the moment allowed to submit applications for major waste projects continuously, based on the so-called XVth call under operational programme environment (OP Environment), lasting
from January 4, 2010, until June 30, 2011. This call has been opened specifically for big waste projects such as incinerators or
mechanical-biological treatment plants.

2. A table of the projects can be downloaded at https://bankwatch.org/documents/incineratorsCZtable.pdf

3. The EU waste hierarchy, included by the European Commission in all its legislative proposals this year, from the Cohesion Policy regulations to the Resource Efficiency Roadmap published earlier this year, asks for prevention of waste production first and foremost, reuse and recycle as much as possible, and only if no other solutions are found, allows for the disposal of waste.

4. CEE Bankwatch Network encourages the application of the EU waste hierarchy. However, when no alternative to waste disposal exists, we argue that small MBTs are preferable to incinerators.

5. For a better understanding of the Cohesion Policy regulation texts, see: https://bankwatch.org/checklist-eu-cohesion-policy