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Establishment of a system to manage hazardous household
waste
If a proper
system for management of the dangerous parts of household
waste is to be created, there must be appropriate laws and
regulations that are developed in accordance with the law
on household waste and the law on dangerous waste. In addition,
practical activities are needed in the following directions:
there should be links with the national household waste
management programme "500 -", establishing a network of
reloading stations at household waste dumps that are to
be established, as well as, if necessary, at other specific
sites, too. Household waste at the dumps should be sorted,
and plans should be implemented to do initial sorting at
the place where waste is produced - in the country's neighbourhoods,
a small system for the collection of hazardous household
waste should be established, including in the system organisations,
which sell household equipment, petrol stations, etc., and
setting up stationary or mobile waste collection facilities,
people should be given an opportunity to turn in household
equipment (freezers, electronics) at the reloading stations.
Entrepreneurs
collect current batteries and neutralise the acid
in Latvia, but batteries are being sent abroad for recycling
(Sweden, Israel). "Agrotehnika" Ltd., "Autostars" Ltd.
and "Lansmanis un Partneri" Ltd. are dealing with the
collection of the used lead batteries.
Mercury luminescent lamps are being recycled in
Latvia. "Lampu demerkurizâcijas centrs" Ltd. is the only
such company in the Baltic States. The used lamps are
reduced to fragments, these fragments are heated at 500°C
temperature, the digested mercury is condensed and marked
off in vacuum. At the present moment, the demercurisation
centre recycles lamps collected in Latvia, as well as
several thousand lamps per year from the regions in Lithuania,
which are near the Liepaja Region. The collected mercury
is planned to send to recycling companies abroad.
Stock Company "Orelat" is dealing with the collection
of waste from processes in photo industry. The
collected waste from photo industry is being sent to the
German company "GWL Recycling GmbH& Co, KG, Geschäftsbereich
Imexco Edelmetalle". |
Asbestos waste
EU directive 87/217/EC addresses the manufacturing and use
of asbestos-containing products, as well as efforts to limit
air, water and ground pollution with asbestos fibres.
The main industrial generation of asbestos waste in Latvia
at this time is the Broceni shale factory, which has its own
asbestos waste dump in Broceni. On the basis of various international
agreements, roofing materials, which contain asbestos, are
to be phased out over the next two or three years. Once the
products are no longer manufactured, the main source of asbestos
waste will be waste from insulation used in buildings and
other objects, roof covers, as well as decorative materials,
which is generated when buildings are repaired or torn down.
For the introduction of the correspondent regulations, the
following steps should be ensured:
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collection of asbestos waste according to the elaborated
renovation or demolition plans,
-
safe packaging and disposal at the hazardous waste landfill
in order to prevent the potential environmental pollution
with asbestos fibres.
Veterinary waste
EU directive 90/667/EEC specifies that each EU Member State
should have a legislative system that sets out the procedure
for treatment or disposal of veterinary waste. The introduction
of a management system for such waste should be co-ordinated
with the Agriculture Ministry, as it deals with veterinary
issues in Latvia.
In general case veterinary waste is divide into waste of
low risk and waste of high risk. Waste of low risk according
to the EU directives should be recycled into products that
can be used further, such as animal nutriment, but waste of
high risk, which is practically equalised with infectious
waste, should be neutralised in specially designed facilities.
Management of waste at ports
Waste from ports is a specific group of waste, and there
are several conventions in force, which govern the management
of such substances. The hazardous parts of port waste at this
time are disposed of at household waste dumps in Latvia, and
in order to introduce more proper management of port waste,
the following should be done:
-
economic and technical research should be done in this area
at Latvia's port;
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a management plan should be elaborated;
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the necessary infrastructural objects (reloading stations)
should be set up at the ports;
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ports should be included in the overall hazardous waste
management system, once it is equipped with the necessary
infrastructural objects.
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