Polish cities are drowning in illegal landfills. And we pay for it

Due to the deposit system, a discussion spread across the country that the new regulations have turned us into garbage collectors. Cleaning up after someone was presented as something bad, shameful, an act that is inappropriate. People turned a blind eye to those who littered and left their waste everywhere, as if it was something normal. How much the issue has been turned on its head is shown by the problem that many cities in Poland have to face. Lots of people throw away waste in unauthorized places, and everyone pays for it.

Radio Łódź reported that last year alone the city spent PLN 1.2 million on removing illegal waste dumps. A total of 600 tons of illegally dumped waste was collected.

Residents of Łódź emphasize that people throw garbage into the forest to avoid disposal fees, the radio station notes.

This is not only a problem for Łódź, but also for the whole of Poland. The Krakow branch of TVP 3 described the example of Aleksandry Park, which had recently undergone revitalization and was supposed to be "the showpiece of the southern part of the city". Meanwhile, the park often turns into a dump. There is more and more garbage, often very large amounts of it, such as furniture.

A similar problem affected the center of Opole, where cardboard boxes, unnecessary furniture and old clothes end up in illegal landfills.

The authorities of the Dukla commune made a special appeal to the residents. It concerned the problem of illegal waste disposal in the commune.

Recently, the so-called "wild dumps" located in forests, fields, roads and on commune-owned land. The abandoned waste includes, among others: construction waste, used tires, electronics and household appliances, furniture and other municipal waste - described.

The commune authorities pointed out that everyone actually loses. And not only because the environment is polluted. As explained, maintaining the current rates - and these, as it was added, are among the lowest in the area - is "only possible if the waste management system functions properly and does not generate additional costs related to the removal of illegal landfills."

It has already been emphasized that as the problem grows, it will be necessary to take action by increasing rates for municipal waste management.

"Snowball Effect"

In an interview with Radio Kielce, Bogusław Kmieć, spokesman for the City Guard in Kielce, notes that garbage is added to existing waste. This creates a snowball effect and the situation can quickly get out of control.

(...) other people, taking advantage of the fact that something is already there, also add their own. If it is not detected quickly enough, it may grow to large sizes, he emphasized.

A simple psychological effect: if everyone throws away garbage here, responsibility is blurred.

Scientists from the Faculty of Geographical Sciences at the University of Łódź, who are researching the issue of illegal landfills in the city, also drew attention to another seemingly justifying factor. Where there is already neglected space - wild, disordered, untidy - it is easier to contribute to the garbage chaos. Finally, the person dumping waste can explain to himself: it's not me, it's how it happened.

The paradox is that we need wild places

The authors of the study explain that "wildlife enclaves function as ecological corridors, improve the resilience of cities to climate change or reduce the urban heat island effect."

"In many cases, their value results from the lack of intensive human interference" - they add. Unfortunately, a person appears very quickly, and with him used tires, broken wardrobes, old TVs and refrigerators, trousers, dresses and sweatshirts that have not been worn for a long time. The positive effect of wild, neglected areas is disappearing, and the environment is losing instead of gaining.

Illegal landfills are not only a problem of waste left in urban space, but also a phenomenon revealing broader social mechanisms related to responsibility for common space, everyday practices of residents and ways of organizing urban order - emphasize the authors of the study.

That's the point. We are disturbed by the popular approach that common means none. If something is for everyone, it really belongs to no one, so you can ignore it, pollute it, destroy it.

Meanwhile, sooner or later the bill will be issued. Literally and figuratively: in the form of a polluted environment, but also due to rising rates for municipal waste management.