The Polish Government has announced its intention to ban municipal waste imports.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced new legislation on waste management as a result of fires of waste materials that it directly blamed on the China recycling import ban.
In the announcement, he revealed that there would be a total ban on imports of municipal waste for disposal, and a total ban on importing municipal waste and waste generated from the treatment of municipal waste into Poland.
Also, the stamp duty on importing waste materials into Poland is to be substantially increased. Details of this are still to be revealed.
However, clarification on what Poland will and won’t allow to be exported there is still not clear. This is especially the case within the European Union, as Poland is subject to EU legislation on waste shipments, including the ‘green list’ of permitted materials for export.
Further measures proposed by the Polish Government also include strengthening of inspections of imports, with the police authorised to control waste shipments.
In the upcoming legislation, waste will only be allowed to be stored at authorised sites for a year, compared to the three years allowed previously.
There will also be new penalties for illegal collection, storage and processing of waste.
It is hoped that the new laws will be implemented by 1 September 2018.
