Waste Generation, Recovery and Disposal in the Czech Republic

1. Waste generation

The statistical survey found that the total generation of waste in the Czech Republic

was 29.4 million tonnes in 2005, i.e. down by 15% on 2004. A decrease was recorded especially

in waste generated by enterprises, municipal waste remained roughly at the 2004 level.

The total production of hazardous waste in 2005 stood at 1.4 million tonnes (1.4 million tonnes

in 2004).

Enterprises generated 21.8 million tonnes of waste (26.6 million tonnes in 2004), of which

1.3 million tonnes was hazardous waste. The fall in waste generated by enterprises against 2004 was caused by excluding some kinds of waste from the waste registration because they were used by the waste producer as a raw material for own output of goods. Decreases were recorded mainly in CZ-NACE 27 – Manufacture of basic metals (-52.9%) and 40 – Electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply (-49.4%). CZ-NACE 01 – Agriculture, hunting and related service activities is another economic activity where a significant drop was observed (-66.8%). The fall was due to the exclusion of some kinds of waste, such as earth and stones, from the waste registration, which was not the case in 2004. Table 1 shows the generation of waste by selected CZ-NACE divisions in 2005, Table 2 gives the generation of waste by region of the head office of enterprises). Graphs 1 and 2 show waste generated per inhabitant by these CZ-NACE divisions.

2. Waste treatment

A total of 26.8 million tonnes of waste was treated in 2005. This amount includes waste generated in the reference year plus waste taken from stores and treated in the same year. Out of the total, 25.9 million tonnes was recovered or disposed of by units measured; 0.9 million tonnes was passed

to other entities outside the sample. Tables 3 and 4 show how the waste produced, stored and received was recovered or disposed of by waste producers and recipients.

In 2005, 18.0% of all waste was recovered (R codes) and 21.5% of all waste was disposed

of (D codes). The percentages of recovery and disposal operations are 18.0% and 21.5%, respectively. In 2004 recovery operations recorded a higher figure (24.1%) than disposal ones (23.4%). Landfilling remains the most frequent way of waste disposal. Out of the total waste disposal, 73.4% was landfilled, i.e. by 5.8% less than in 2004.

As to hazardous waste, 9.0% of the total amount of waste disposed of in 2005 was landfilled, i.e. down by 11.4% on 2004. Out of hazardous waste, 25.7% (24.9% in 2004) was recovered. In total, 47.9%

of hazardous waste was disposed of (44.8% in 2004). Table 5 gives the types of hazardous waste treatment in 2001-2005.

3. Waste produced on the territory of municipalities

Municipalities registered 3.2 million tonnes of waste in 2005. Out of that, production of municipal and trade waste was 3.0 million tonnes (i.e. 288.3 kg per inhabitant). By type of collection, increases were recorded for bulky municipal waste (+15.0% year-on-year) and for separately collected waste components (+11.9%). Conversely, waste produced by municipal services dropped (-8.8%). The production of municipal and trade waste in 2002-2005 by type of collection is shown in Table 6.

The total waste of 3.2 million tonnes produced by municipalities also included other waste reported by municipalities, in particular construction and demolition waste, waste from waste water treatment facilities and other waste not classified to municipal waste (Waste Catalogue, group 20).

4. Consumption of wastes as secondary raw materials

The established consumption of selected wastes as secondary raw materials

for manufacture of selected products in observed enterprises (glassworks, metallurgical works, construction companies, etc., since 2004 including paper mills, cement mills and textile factories) was 3.9 million tonnes in 2005, i.e. 1.4 million tonnes down on 2004. Consumption of textile wastes, iron-containing waste and glass waste decreased most. Table 7 shows the consumption of wastes

as secondary raw materials for the manufacture of selected products in 2005.

5. Imports of waste

According to the statistical waste survey, the Czech Republic imported 115.3 thousand tonnes

of waste in 2005 (320.7 thousand tonnes in 2004), of which 114.1 thousand tonnes from EU member states and 1.2 thousand tonnes from non-EU countries. It was predominantly metallic wastes

(52% of the waste imported), rubber and plastic wastes, cullet waste and textile wastes.