Vilnius plant to resume regional waste burning, halt local deliveries
Friday 14th August 2026 on 16:00 in
Lithuania
Vilnius Cogeneration Power Plant will next week resume burning sorted municipal waste from the Utena and Alytus regions but temporarily stop accepting waste from Vilnius’s mechanical biological waste sorting facility, LRT reported.
The decision was approved on Friday by the Vilnius municipal Emergency Situations Operations Centre, according to its head, Dalius Krinickas.
For August and September, the plant will burn about 2,660 tonnes of waste per week from the Vilnius region, 105 tonnes from the Utena region and 210 tonnes from the Alytus region. Krinickas said the planned volumes should cover the current flow of combustible waste and prevent further accumulation.
Three waste management companies, Ecoservice, Ekonovus and Ekobazė, sort about 700 tonnes of waste a day in the Vilnius region and supply the combustible portion to the plant. Waste currently delivered from the Vilnius sorting facility has accumulated on its grounds.
Regional waste management centres agreed on the volumes. The heads of the Alytus and Utena centres asked the plant to begin accepting their waste from Monday, while the three centres coordinated the amounts to prevent waste from accumulating in any region.
The plant currently burns up to 450 tonnes of waste a day. Its representative, Rima Aukštuolytė, previously said reduced capacity was caused by clogged filters that were being replaced without shutting down the facility.
Krinickas said the reduced volumes would also allow the plant to avoid scheduled maintenance shutdowns. He said capacity is expected to rise in October, reaching 500 to 550 tonnes of combustible waste a day during October to December. Waste from the Vilnius sorting facility could then be burned again.
Because the plant will burn less waste in August and September and will not accept deliveries from the sorting facility, the Vilnius Regional Waste Management Centre will have to revise its long-term plan. The plan is expected to be delayed by about two months and must be updated by September 14.
About 20,000 tonnes of waste have accumulated at the facility, according to the waste centre’s head in late July. The centre said it would first clear the area over roughly two months and then seek a contractor to rebuild the plant, which was damaged by fire last year.