6.How do we solve the waste problem in Ljubljana / Vienna?
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Waste Management In this Erasmus+ project, we have investigated waste disposal and treatment issues in our respective cities, Vienna and Ljubljana, and compared solutions to promote them to the opposite city.
First, we explored different systems of separating waste, as it is a very obvious starting point. While both cities do this separation, they have a few key differences.
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Ljubljana separates packaging, paper, residuals, and sometimes glass.
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Glass bins are rarer in Ljubljana than in Vienna.
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Vienna separates between colored glass and white glass.
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Colored glass can be contaminated with other materials and cannot be recycled along with clear, white glass.
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Both cities have standardized large bins.
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Vienna has easily understandable smaller bins, while Ljubljana has many different types of smaller bins.
The coloring for residual waste can vary in Ljubljana, causing confusion. Occasionally, the paper bins for larger apartment complexes in Ljubljana can overflow as a result of the less frequent collection times compared to Vienna's cycle of every three days. It may help to research and figure out whether these cycles are or are not the most effective for both cities’ respective green goals.
Both cities also have collection centers and ways of treating waste. Snaga, the most popular company for waste collection and treatment in Ljubljana, has a chain of collection centers to collect larger trash and a treatment plant named RCERO LJ, or Regional Center for Waste Management Ljubljana. It includes an expanded landfill, a leachate treatment plant for treating wastewater, waste recovery facilities, and a biological waste treatment facility. It is used to recycle and separate trash that was thrown into residuals, recycle, and dump waste. With its collection centers and incinerators, MA48 (Vienna Magistrate Department) is responsible for municipal waste management and safe traffic areas in winter conditions. Their incinerator provides energy for around 50,000 Viennese households, along with heating and warm water, by incinerating residual waste. Recyclable waste is recycled. Both cities have incredible goals to reach in waste collection and management, which have all seemingly been going well. Vienna plans to recycle all non-avoidable waste by 2050 and become a zero-waste city by 2040. In Ljubljana, 68% of waste is being recycled, with plans to become zero-waste by 2035.
Ljubljana's RCERO LJ is an incredible plant, that should be adopted by more countries, and Vienna is trying to make recycling more and more efficient, particularly in glass recycling. Their incinerator, providing energy for its citizens, is also an effective solution for residual waste, instead of dumping it into a landfill. Standardization is extremely important in making waste sorting as easy and understandable as possible, to incentivize as many people as possible.