Plots of land with illegal waste to be taken over. Defusing ecological bombs begins

• Local governments will receive a total of PLN 400 million for the remediation of post-industrial areas and the removal of illegal toxic waste dumps - says Paulina Hennig-Kloska.
• Local governments will enter the real estate on which illegal storage sites are located into mortgages, thus securing the interests of the State Treasury - he explains.
• It will also be possible to take over the property through the courts in order to recover public funds, as cleaning up waste is expensive, he added.

Over the years , many ecological bombs have accumulated in Poland and, to put it briefly, we are beginning the arduous task of defusing them in cooperation with local governments.

- Hennig-Kloska said during the conference.

The aim is to clean up plots of land where there are illegal toxic waste dumps , e.g. paints and varnishes, which pose a threat to the health and life of residents and the environment.

- she explained.

Local governments will receive a total of PLN 400 million for the reclamation of post-industrial areas and the removal of illegal toxic waste dumps . The money will come from the state budget, the KPO and the NFOŚiGW.

She informed that PLN 100 million for this purpose has been secured in the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and will be at the disposal of the Minister of Climate and Environment after the holidays, in a non-competitive recruitment procedure.

In turn, PLN 200 million has been secured in the state budget, which is to be transferred to local governments for the same purpose this year.

She added that another PLN 100 million from the KPO will go to the reclamation of post-industrial areas , to cities struggling with large-scale degraded areas that no one has dealt with for even 30 years. She cited the "Zachem" plant in Bydgoszcz as an example.

First of all, funds for liquidation of landfills will go to 9 locations in the following voivodeships:

• Lodz,
• Silesian,
• Świętokrzyskie,
• Lesser Poland.

Most of these local governments have already decided or are in the process of deciding on tenders.

- noted the head of the Ministry of Culture and Environment.

The money will also go to 14 additional towns from the so-called reserve list , which will only begin the waste removal process.

The Minister stressed that waste transports will be sealed and monitored using GPS monitoring to prevent waste being transferred between municipalities, as such cases have been recorded.

It is absolutely undesirable to use the money for cleaning landfills to give money to the garbage mafia.

- she noted.

She indicated that local governments will enter real estates with illegal landfills into mortgages, thus securing the interests of the State Treasury. It will also be possible to seize real estates through court proceedings in order to recover public funds, because waste cleanup is expensive - the minister added.

She stressed that she could not imagine a situation in which the owners of cleared plots would profit from selling them or would store further waste there.

She added that Sosnowiec is one of the first places in Poland to start cleaning up an illegal toxic waste dump. It is located in the city center, close to watercourses and housing estates, she emphasized.

She added that there were fires there in 2020 and 2022. She noted that there are still 600 tons of waste in the landfill, partially burned.

Hennig-Kloska recalled that the toxic waste removal program has a three-year perspective (2025-2027) and is being implemented gradually, taking into account the so-called "bottlenecks" in incinerators that are designated for the safe disposal of this type of residue.

The Minister announced that she will apply for securing another pool of funds from the state budget and the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management for future years, as many municipalities still need support.

This year's subsidies for the liquidation of hazardous landfills were made possible by an amendment to the Waste Act, which came into force on 1 January this year. Under the Act, local governments can receive more than 80% of the subsidies.

This year, PLN 200 million has been secured for this purpose in the state budget’s earmarked reserve.

Potential locations were selected based on the lists of provincial environmental protection inspectorates with selected places of illegal waste disposal, especially those that may pose a threat to human life and health and the environment.

The locations selected for cleaning include waste from the chemical, petrochemical, paint, varnish and automotive industries , such as:

• chemical waste,
• paint waste,
• varnishes,
• waste oils,
• organic solvent waste.

Regulations regarding post-industrial "ecological bombs" were included in the Act on Large-Scale Degraded Areas of mid-June 2023.

The aim of these regulations was to solve problems related to waste accumulated years ago on large-scale areas belonging, in the past or currently, to the State Treasury.

The Act is devoted to specific, already identified post-industrial areas for which actions improving the condition of the environment are to be financed from the KPO, the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the InvestEU Fund, other funds obtained by the competent authority and the municipality's own funds.

The list includes areas belonging to:

• "Zachem" Chemical Plant in Bydgoszcz;
• Chemical Plant "Organika-Azot" in Jaworzno;
• "Tarnowskie Góry" Chemical Plant in Tarnowskie Góry;
• "Boruta" Dye Industry Plant in Zgierz;
• "Wistom" Chemical Fibres Plant in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.