Vilnius waste crisis: mixed waste no longer taken to Kazokiškės landfill

Vilnius County Waste Management Centre (VAATC) has temporarily halted the transport of unsorted waste to the Kazokiškės landfill in Elektrėnai municipality, as reported by LRT.

The decision follows an ongoing waste management crisis in the Vilnius region, with politicians criticising the city’s authorities for failing to properly separate food waste. There are concerns that the capital may lose EU funding as a result.

Vilnius municipality insists it is doing its best, but there are no signs yet of the EU funds being recovered.

An emergency situation due to air pollution levels at the Kazokiškės landfill was declared in late March and remains in effect. Liberal MP Simonas Gentvilas previously stated that the main issue is the unsorted food waste being transported from Vilnius.

New Environment Minister Ieva Andriulaitytė has promised to seek solutions, though no concrete measures have been announced yet.

Elektrėnai Deputy Mayor Marius Urvakis confirmed that the waste transport was suspended on Tuesday, ahead of a Wednesday meeting by the National Crisis Management Centre with representatives from various institutions to discuss the waste crisis in the Vilnius region.

“The city of Vilnius decided to transport unsorted waste to the landfill. In response to this step, and given the emergency situation since late March due to air pollution and residents’ health complaints, the emergency operations centre commission recommended banning the transport of unsorted waste, which poses a higher fire risk,” Urvakis told LRT radio.

“As of today, there are two valid decisions. We are waiting for the National Crisis Management Centre’s decisions and will certainly have to react if there is a plan to resume the transport of unsorted waste to the landfill,” he added.

Earlier this week, questions about the waste crisis in the Vilnius region were directed at the new environment minister. Former Environment Minister Gentvilas, in a meeting with the new ministry head, emphasised that food waste containers in Vilnius are locked.

According to Gentvilas, Vilnius municipality received around €5 million in EU funding to install food waste sorting containers, but these containers remain locked. He stated that they should have been unlocked at the beginning of July last year.

“You can turn to the Environmental Project Management Agency (APVA) and ask APVA to issue a mandatory instruction to Vilnius municipality. […] EU support should already be withdrawn from Vilnius municipality because [the containers] are locked,” the former minister said.

Gentvilas linked this to the waste situation in Elektrėnai, where, he claims, unsorted food waste is being transported, collected in mixed waste containers.

“Today, Vilnius residents in apartment districts have access to underground containers, but they are locked. The first task is to ask APVA to pressure Vilnius municipality to unlock the food container sections and start transporting them separately. Then at least the stench won’t be transported, because biological [waste] stinks,” the Liberal Movement representative told the new minister.

He also said the “fictitious bag system” should be abolished. Since the beginning of 2024, Vilnius residents have been required to dispose of food waste in special orange bags. Some bags were distributed for free, but residents now have to purchase them themselves.

“Today, you can’t buy orange bags. Food waste is unsorted,” Gentvilas said.