Poland in spat with Germany over claims of illegal waste increasing risk of fires
A fire at a Polish landfill site has brought attention to the county's waste management policies and claims that waste is being illegally brought in from Germany.
Transcript
00:00 Last month's huge fire at the landfill site in Zielona Góra is at the centre of an ongoing
00:05 dispute over Poland's waste management policy.
00:08 Inadequate storage and treatment, along with illegal waste loads, have become literally
00:11 a burning problem in the country.
00:13 Many accuse those in power of negligence.
00:16 "We were short of 20 million to use it.
00:19 The consequences for the environment, the costs we will have to pay for the reclamation of
00:24 the land, bringing it back to this state, the security, can be ten times higher.
00:29 We have a catastrophe, an ecological one.
00:31 We have warnings to all services that do not inform us about the actual state of the environment.
00:37 Only after a week, the first message appeared to be careful with the plums we have in our
00:42 gardens."
00:43 It was after the fire that the Polish Ministry of Climate filed a complaint with the European
00:47 Commission regarding 35,000 tonnes of illegal waste shipments from Germany.
00:51 It's the first step before applying to the European Court of Justice.
00:55 "The decision-makers, the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany do not feel
00:59 comfortable with taking this waste away.
01:01 So we wanted to solve this matter by way of a court-martial, but we failed.
01:06 Therefore, according to the law, each state of the European Union has the right to file
01:10 a complaint with the European Commission.
01:12 We did it for other states.
01:14 Here, the European Commission has three months to analyze and respond to this matter."
01:18 Christopher Stolzenberg from the German Ministry for the Environment has commented, saying
01:24 returning illegal shipments is the responsibility of the federal states.
01:28 He added, however, that the fact that illegal waste shipments from Germany are taking place
01:33 is of great concern to them and that the ministry remains committed to improving the prevention
01:38 of illegal waste shipments in the EU.
01:41 The case of the landfill in Gielinagora put the problem of illegal transport and storage
01:46 of waste in the spotlight.
01:48 Some observers say it's a bigger problem than people realize.
01:52 [applause]
01:55 "There are now over 400 such warehouses in the country.
01:59 Of these, about 140 are places where only hazardous waste is found.
02:04 More and more journalists raise this issue.
02:07 Officials have also been struggling with this for a long time, so I hope that this tendency
02:13 to fight environmental prejudice, here strictly fighting hazardous waste, will develop
02:20 and more of these warehouses will be exposed, but also more will be utilized."
02:25 Due to the fires at landfills, the government is considering providing more support to local
02:31 communities in waste disposal.
02:33 The officials will certainly feel increased pressure to act now, ahead of the elections.
02:39 Magdalena Chodowlik for Euronews from Gielinagora.
02:42 (whooshing)