Municipalities located far from the installations. Residents bear the costs of waste transportation.

• Small municipalities struggle with high costs of transporting waste to distant facilities and limited availability of selective municipal waste collection points.
• The analysis of the costs of operating the municipal waste management system should be carried out by individual municipalities.
• The MP asks whether, in the opinion of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the current municipal waste management system in Poland (including the RIPOK system and regionalisation mechanisms) is conducive to the development of infrastructure in rural areas.

In his interpellation, MP Rafał Romanowski asked about problems with municipal waste management in rural areas of northern Mazovia, in particular in the Ciechanów, Przasnysz, Mława, Żuromin and Płońsk poviats.

He emphasized that information provided by mayors and representatives of local communities indicates that the basic problem remains the lack of local infrastructure enabling effective segregation, processing and temporary storage of municipal waste.

The above-mentioned areas are known for high waste collection fees, which are largely due to the lack of installations.

These municipalities struggle with high costs of transporting waste to distant installations, limited availability of selective municipal waste collection points (PSZOK), as well as a lack of financial resources for the development of modern technological solutions in this area.

- writes the MP.

Therefore, he asked the Ministry of the Environment whether it was analysing the situation of small municipalities, whether it was planning to launch a dedicated investment programme for rural municipalities to build or modernise PSZOK points, local composting plants or installations for mechanical-biological waste treatment (MBP), and whether the priorities of these programmes included preferences for municipalities with a low degree of urbanisation and dispersed development?

The MP also wants to know whether, in the opinion of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the current municipal waste management system in Poland (including the RIPOK system and regionalisation mechanisms) is conducive to the development of infrastructure in rural areas.

He also asks whether the ministry has analysed the impact of the costs of transporting waste from rural municipalities to remote installations on the fees paid by residents and whether any mechanisms are planned to compensate rural municipalities for these additional costs (e.g. subsidies, compensation mechanisms from environmental funds)?

As Deputy Minister Krzysztof Galos, Chief National Geologist, wrote in his response, the analysis of the costs of operating the municipal waste management system should be carried out by individual municipalities.

He recalled that the Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Municipalities indicates that the municipality pays for the operation of the system from the fees collected for municipal waste management, which covers the costs of:

Galos also added that waste management policy in the voivodeship is shaped not by the ministry, but by the voivodeship marshal , who analyzes the state of waste management in the voivodeship. He then identifies investment needs to ensure the rational management of waste generated within the voivodeship.

The task of the Ministry of Climate and Environment is to issue an opinion on the draft provincial waste management plan and to agree on the draft investment plan, in terms of their assessment in terms of compliance with legal provisions and the national waste management plan.

- we read in the response.

Regarding the distance of waste treatment facilities, Galos added that the Ministry of Climate and Environment does not collect information on the distance of facilities from individual municipalities. However, in accordance with the Waste Act, waste management plans are prepared at the provincial level, among others.

He explained that the voivodeship marshal maintains a list of existing municipal installations and those planned for construction, expansion, or modernization . He also noted that the regionalization requirement was abolished by the Act of July 19, 2019. The existing Regional Municipal Waste Processing Installations (RIPOK) were replaced by municipal installations.

Regarding support for small municipalities, the Deputy Minister explained that rural municipalities – like all local governments – can apply for investment funds from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. He added that under the Circular Economy priority program, including waste management, water protection, and water management, two calls for proposals in the field of municipal waste management are planned to be launched in December 2025 and should last until mid-2026.