Analysis of Municipal Waste Development and Management in Self-Governing Regions of Slovakia

Abstract

In the European Union, basic strategy results from the need to provide intelligent, sustainable, and inclusive growth, along with respect to social and economic impacts of waste treatment. The paper focuses on municipal waste and its separation. Generally, within global waste management initiatives, the main goal is to minimize the negative effects of waste on the environment, as well as to increase and optimize the sources’ efficiency in the waste economy. Research on municipal waste development and its separation was done in individual regions of Slovakia to find if socially weaker regions have worse waste treatment. The results were compared according to the waste development per inhabitant and per household, as well as through rate indexes, which are connected to relationships between waste, social, and economic indexes. The results confirmed research results from other countries that show that the volume of municipal waste is increasing due to increased living standards of inhabitants. However, on the other hand, waste separation rates also increased—mainly based on the legislative support.

The Evaluation of Municipal Waste in Counties in Poland with the Use of the Theory of Phenomena Spatial Concentration

“…The increased production of waste, especially municipal waste, and ineffective use of natural resources still influence the environment and change it [22]. This problem has become one of the most important challenges for modern civilization, and the produced waste requires particular management by its neutralization and reuse.…”

“…Consequently, the growing number of landfills contributes to environmental degradation by contaminating soils, waters, the atmosphere; by the deterioration of landscape; and by becoming a local epidemiological threat [4]. Therefore, we must be aware of such threats to the environment and try to minimalize the negative consequences to the largest possible extent for the wealth and health of future generations [22]. Waste treatment can contribute to reaching this aim.…”

Impact of Municipal Waste Recycling and Renewable Energy Consumption on CO2 Emissions across the European Union (EU) Member Countries

“…High recycling rates help municipalities to decrease waste disposal costs and to reduce negative impacts on the environment by reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills. Even the quantity of municipal waste is increasing across countries [10]; according to EUROSTAT [3] the total amount of municipal waste from EU countries that was landfilled during the period between 1995 and 2017 decreased by 60% as a result of increasing recycling or composed rates combined with waste burning.…”

Implementation of a Coupon System in Municipalities and Its Significance in Area of Waste Sorting as Green Economy

“…The vision of Enviro strategy 2030 is to achieve a higher quality of the environment with a focus on increasing the recycling rate of municipal waste to 60% and reducing the landfill rate to 25% [3]. Generally, within global waste management initiatives, the main goal is to minimize the negative effects of waste on the environment, as well as to increase and optimize the sources' efficiency in the waste economy [4][5][6]. The aim of the paper is to examine the environmental and economic impacts of waste management in municipalities in Slovakia and to determine the impact of the introduction of a coupon system in the field of municipal waste sorting in municipalities.…”