Ratiboř

The Czechs are rightly described as the European leaders in waste sorting. They have improved further year-on-year in the amount of waste sorted for the umpteenth time in a row. In 2019, each of us sorted an average of 51.3 kilograms of paper, plastic, glass and beverage cartons, an increase of more than 2 kilograms of waste sorted into coloured containers year-on-year.

The majority of the population of the Czech Republic has experience in waste sorting, and almost ¾ of the nation, 73% of the population, regularly sorts their waste. Last year, we sorted the most paper, almost 22 kilograms, followed by 15.1 kilograms of plastics, almost 14 kilograms of glass and less than half a kilo of beverage cartons. We are also increasingly sorting metals, with each resident sorting an average of 13.9 kilograms. Over 693,000 tonnes of sorted waste were collected through municipal collection systems, which is 4% more than in 2018.

"The EU Member States, including the Czech Republic, must meet the ambitious new targets resulting from the requirements of the Circular Economy Package in just a few years' time. In practice, this will mean separating all waste that can be recycled or otherwise recovered and landfilling only a minimum of mixed waste, but no more than 10%. And municipalities and their citizens are already starting to prepare for this intensively," summarised Zbyněk Kozel, CEO of EKO-KOM, a.s., on the development of waste sorting.

EKO-KOM, the Authorised Packaging Company, has been operating the system of sorting and recycling packaging waste, which is an important component of sorted municipal waste, in the Czech Republic for more than 20 years. At the end of 2019, 21,197 companies and 6,146 municipalities in the Czech Republic were involved in the system. Thanks to their cooperation, waste sorting in the Czech Republic is available to 99% of the population. To make it as accessible and easy as possible for people, the system is constantly working with municipalities to further thicken the collection network for sorting. Czechs can now sort their waste through 473 359 coloured containers and smaller bins on the streets and in front of their homes. On average, one collection nest serves 118 inhabitants, which is a very good result in European competition.

"Walking distance to coloured containers is a decisive factor for many people when it comes to waste sorting. Now, on average, we can reach them from our homes only 91 metres away, which is roughly 133 steps," says EKO-KOM's Director of Communications, Lukáš Grolmus. However, he adds that according to the latest statistics, 24% of residents still report that their containers are more than 130 metres away, so there are places where there is room for improvement.

Waste sorting in households and municipalities produces raw material that is sorted on sorting lines and re-sorted into individual secondary raw materials ready for recycling and use - for the production of new products or as a source of energy or a replacement for lignite in heating plants. By sorting, the system reduces the burden on the environment - every year, by sorting and recycling packaging waste, we save the equivalent of about 29 square kilometres of nature, save trees, natural resources and prevent the expansion of landfills. And by sorting and recycling packaging waste, we saved almost 6 million MWh of energy last year.

Detailed information on the results of the EKO-KOM sorting and recycling system for 2019, including graphs, can be found in the attached PDF file below.

Contact:

Lucie Müller,
Spokeswoman of EKO-KOM, a.s.,
mullerova@ekokom.cz,
+420 602 186 205

More information

www.ekokom.cz, www.jaktridit.cz,It makes sense, I sort waste!
www.samosebou.cz,www.enviweb.cz