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 waste management crisis in the Vilnius region appears to have reached a deadlock. Politicians have pointed to Vilnius authorities as responsible, citing unsorted food waste as the main issue, which could lead the capital to lose EU funding. Vilnius municipality claims it is doing its best, but there are no signs yet that it will have to return EU funds received.

An extreme situation due to air pollution levels at the Kazokiškės landfill was declared at the end of March and remains in effect. Liberal politician Simonas Gentvilas previously stated that the main problem is the unsorted food waste from Vilnius being transported there.

Elektrėnai Deputy Mayor Marius Urvakis confirmed that the waste transport was suspended on Tuesday, ahead of a Wednesday meeting of the National Crisis Management Centre with representatives from various institutions to discuss solutions to 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 extreme situation since the end of March due to air pollution and residents’ health complaints, the extreme 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.

Former Environment Minister Gentvilas met with the new minister, Ieva Andriulaitytė, earlier this week, emphasising that food waste containers in Vilnius are locked. According to Gentvilas, Vilnius municipality received around €5 million for food waste sorting containers, but these containers remain locked.

Gentvilas stated that the food waste sorting containers in Vilnius should have been unlocked at the beginning of July last year. He suggested that the Environmental Project Management Agency (APVA) should issue a mandatory instruction to Vilnius municipality to unlock the containers.

“EU funding should already be withdrawn from Vilnius municipality because [the containers] are locked,” the former minister said.

Gentvilas also noted that the current system of orange bags for food waste, introduced in early 2024, is ineffective. Residents were initially given free bags, but now must purchase them themselves. “Today, you can’t buy orange bags. Food waste is unsorted,” he said.