The biggest change in the new system is the addition of the requirement by apartment buildings with 16 or more units and establishments offering dining services that produce over 20 kilograms of biowaste per week to sort and collect household and commercial biowaste separately, Pärnu city government announced.

Solid food scraps, spoiled fruits and vegetables, fruit and vegetable peels, egg- and peanut shells, meat and fish scraps, including smaller bones, coffee grounds, tea bags, paper coffee filters, household plants, fresh-cut flowers, paper towels, paper napkins and dirty paper bags are all among items that can be sorted and collected in biowaste containers.

The containers are to be emptied once per week; the waste removal company will provide a new bag for the container each time it is emptied. Household biowaste is to be placed in the container loosely, in special biodegradable trash bags or in paper bags.

"Ten-liter biodegradable trash bags are sold in every bigger supermarket," the city governmnet's announcement noted, adding that biowaste thrown into inappropriate, non-biodegradable bags may mean that the container in question will not be emptied on schedule.

For the next five years, biowaste removal in the city of Pärnu will be the responsibility of procurement winner AS Ragn Sells.