From February 10 to 11, within the Erasmus+ international education project, University welcomed guests from Lithuania, namely researchers from Kaunas University of Technology. Professor Gintaras Denafas told Polytechnicians about the experience and challenges of the Lithuanian waste management system.
According to the researcher, the waste management system is made up of six priorities: landfill, energy recovery, materials recovery, recycling, reuse and reproduction.
According to the general requirements of the European Union, by 2030 all EU countries, including Lithuania, are obliged to provide recycling of 65% of solid waste; to ensure recycling of 75% of packaging materials; to reduce by 10% all waste on sanitary landfills; and to prohibit the disposal of sorted waste at sanitary landfills.
Professor Denafas noted waste management depends on three main indicators: GDP, which affects waste production; population size on which the total waste stream depends; stay in the EU, which creates the conditions for the implementation of the relevant directives.
Waste management systems are made up of two parts: household waste management for which local government is responsible and industrial waste management, whose responsibility lies on economic entities.
