The municipalities of Rõuge, Antsla and Setomaa in Võru County organized a joint procurement to find a new waste collection service provider for the upcoming contract period. As a result, waste stations in these municipalities were temporarily closed during the first week of April, as the service is being transferred to AS Eesti Keskkonnateenused. The new contractual partner is expected to standardize waste management and pricing policies in the area – these goals are also outlined in the waste plan of Võru County.

"One condition from Rõuge Municipality in the procurement was that the waste station would be operated by the waste hauler. Previously, it was arranged so that one company operated the waste station, another company removed the waste and yet another company provided the service to the people. Now, we have one waste partner," explained Rõuge Mayor Britt Vahter.

Katrin Koppel, advisor to the circular economy department at the Ministry of Climate, mentioned that the new waste reform also directs local governments to review their waste management. The aim is to require municipalities to achieve a certain level of separation at source for municipal waste.

"Often, it's a situation where the conditions are created, but the individual still has to make a significant effort to hand over the separately collected waste. Now, there's an interest for municipalities to create maximally convenient conditions for waste disposal, and certainly, local waste stations are part of this," explained Koppel.

Koppel added that if a local government procures an operator for the waste station as part of the organized waste collection tender, this is quite common and may be a reasonable solution from the residents' perspective. According to Vahter, a service provider coming from the private sector can create better service quality – for example, Rõuge waste station can again accept construction waste for free disposal, which the municipality had to stop accepting last year due to lack of funds. Also, in Vahter's view, the service is more professional.

"The municipality did not have a scale at the waste station until now and lacked the ability to organize payment for the service. Now, with this new contract, the waste station will be adapted so that everything can be weighed and payments can be made on-site both by card and in cash," said Vahter.

However, Koppel emphasized that when a local government outsources a waste station to a private company through a tender contract, it's important to consider under what conditions, for example, from whom and on which days the station must accept waste.

"There is a bit of market consolidation happening in terms of organized waste collection. One company serves many municipalities, but indeed, to avoid such problems, the municipality must certainly be able to call the service provider to order according to the tender contract."

Koppel noted that it's not always sensible to hand over all waste stations to the private sector.

"For example, if we think about the islands, then in terms of waste management, the situation may be such that it's more sensible for the municipality itself to manage. For instance, the Hiiumaa waste station has recently built a proper composting area, meaning that bio-waste collected from Hiiumaa can be recycled locally on the island," explained Koppel.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!