The title of the article is a challenge in terms of approach and an attempt to answer the question posed in it. Within its framework, it is necessary to pay attention to three elements. Firstly, the focus is on Polish municipal waste sorting facilities. Secondly, their technological level is an interesting issue, and thirdly, the point, from which we look at the facilities, is their ability to prepare waste for recycling. The aim of this article is not only to look at the current technological level of Polish facilities. The text is also about the future and the possibility of shaping their “tomorrow’s” state. What, then, is the current technological level of Polish municipal waste sorting facilities in terms of preparing waste for recycling? What factors will determine the technological level of these facilities in the future?
Facilities as key elements of waste management systems
In the series of articles titled “What direction should the modernization of municipal waste sorting plants take in the context of the required recovery levels, the deposit system and EPR?”, the goals of waste management, the conditions for their achievement, and the dependencies and mechanisms permeating waste law and policy, economic and market factors, technology, and investment efficiency, as well as the operation of municipal waste sorting facilities have been indicated. From these analyses, the most important dependencies can be distinguished, within which the characteristics of the technological level of Polish waste sorting facilities in the context of preparing waste for recycling are sought.
Waste law and policy set the goals and principles of waste management. The goals, defined in EU directives, are implemented into Polish laws. The Polish state transfers obligations to municipalities, and municipalities in turn shift them to enterprises, which in practice are largely responsible for educating the public, collecting waste, and achieving recycling targets. The market, which rules of operation are regulated by legal regulations, determines the economic conditions for achieving waste management goals. It also determines the economic viability of investments and the operation of entities and facilities. However, neither law nor the market alone can ensure achieving goals. Therefore, the focus and the point from which we look at the issues described in this article are municipal waste sorting facilities. In facilities, which are technologically linked stationary devices for processing municipal waste, in this case – for their sorting, real processes take place every day that determine the preparation of waste for recycling. The core of the facility is technology, which is a method of conducting the waste sorting process. The burden of the actual implementation of waste management goals rests on technology. It determines the real, daily environmental effects, achieved recovery, the balance of products and residues after the sorting process, as well as economic effects. Municipal waste sorting facilities are therefore an important and key element of the waste management system. Facilities are also the subject of investments, and the weight of these investments is not only economic costs, but also the time needed to prepare them and the time during which these facilities will be operated. It is also a space, a place, a land use subordinated and adapted to the facility, which once made or adapted is difficult to change and will determine its future operation and further investments.
Through appropriate investments, consisting in the construction or modernization of municipal waste sorting facilities, a waste management system is built for the coming years. It is this system that will influence the achievement of environmental goals. For this reason, municipal waste sorting facilities should be at the center of the conducted waste policy, both in the broad aspect of supporting investment processes (financing, investment procedures), and in terms of ensuring stable – primarily legal and economic – conditions for their operation and development (the role and importance of financing from the EPR system – Extended Producer Responsibility).
Selectively collected plastics and mixed waste: ongoing challenges for sorting processes
Since the introduction of the mandatory waste segregation in 2013, and its nationwide unification in July 2017, two main and most demanding streams of municipal waste have been identified from the perspective of the waste sorting process. These two streams are: selectively collected plastic waste, also collected as mixed packaging waste, and municipal mixed waste. Over the past 10 years, the amount of selectively collected waste delivered for processing has significantly increased. However, the development of the appropriate technological infrastructure, i.e., sorting facilities, has not kept pace.
The Institute of Environmental Protection (IOŚ) in its report dated August 9, 2024, entitled “Reports of Voivodeship Marshals on the Implementation of Municipal Waste Management Tasks in 2022”, indicates that the amount of selectively collected plastics and metals in 2022 amounted to 636.1 thousands Mg, and mixed packaging waste – 572.9 thousands Mg, in which selectively collected plastics account for approximately 33%. Thus, the total annual amount of selectively collected plastics can be estimated at around 825 thousand Mg.
From a technological standpoint, selectively collected plastic waste is characterized by low density, large volume, and a high proportion of a mixture of various valuable raw material fractions. This stream has a significant economic dimension: the fractions of raw materials lost due to the lack of sorting and recovery generate a high cost of further management, while the raw materials recovered from this stream prove to be a significant source of income. Therefore, a successful and efficient sorting process should be seen as a double opportunity: ecological – increasing the level of recovery and directing plastics to recycling, and economic – increasing the value of recovered raw materials and reducing the costs of managing the calorific fraction.
Despite the significant increase in the amount of waste collected selectively, the amount of collected mixed (non-segregated) waste is still significant. According to IOŚ data, it constitutes 56.1% of the generated municipal waste, which amounts to 7,622 thousands Mg in 2022. Mixed waste, compared to selectively collected waste, is characterized by high density. A quality of this stream is also a low share (at the level of 5-10%) of a possible mixture of raw material fractions suitable for recovery and preparation for recycling. However, due to the large stream, mixed waste contains a significant quantitative potential of various raw material fractions. To better illustrate, we can use the example of a large city. A plant serving the locality is supplied with 100 thousands Mg/year of mixed waste. It is possible to recover a fraction of raw materials from this stream at the level of 10%. This plant also accepts selectively collected plastics in the amount of 20 thousands Mg/year with the possibility of recovering raw materials at the level of 50%. Under these assumptions, the recovery of raw material fractions from mixed waste will be at the level of 10 thousands Mg/year (100 thousands x 10%), which is similar to the recovery possible from the stream of selectively collected plastics (20 thousands x 50%).
Goals for recovery and preparation for recycling
The overarching goal of waste processing, as defined by EU and national legislation, is to maximize the recovery of raw material fractions and prepare waste for recycling. In the perspective of 2025-2035, it will be necessary to increase the rate of preparation for reuse and recycling of municipal waste from 55% in 2025 to 60% in 2030, and to 65% in 2035. Moreover, by the end of 2025 at least 65%, and by the end of 2030 at least 70%, by weight of all packaging waste must be recycled.
This means that for selectively collected plastics and mixed waste, effective sorting processes are necessary to enable the recovery of raw material fractions from these streams at the highest possible level.
How to determine the technological level of a waste sorting plant?
What is the technological level of a sorting facility and what does it depend on? Let’s try to define it in a simple and practical way. The technological level of a municipal waste sorting facility is a measure of its technological advancement, reflecting its ability to efficiently process the required streams and corresponding amount of waste. In other words, according to this definition, the technological level of a waste sorting plant will depend on the number of such a number of facilities that will ensure the efficient sorting of the required waste streams. An advanced technological facility is one that:
- is adapted to the waste streams it is to process,
- has a throughput capacity adapted to its needs,
- ensures a high level of recovery of raw material fractions,
- ensures the sorting of raw material fractions into many material fractions,
- is characterized by high quality workmanship and ensures its durable use,
- allows for expansion depending on changing needs and requirements in the future.
These are six dimensions of technological effectiveness (more in the article “What direction should the modernization of municipal waste sorting plants take in the context of the required recovery levels, the deposit system and EPR? Part III: Technology and efficiency”).
For the purposes of this article, we will be interested in facilities for sorting mixed waste and selectively collected plastics. In particular, their throughput, ability to achieve high levels of recovery of raw material fractions, and the ability to achieve the required level of sorting raw materials, i.e., effective separation of material fractions such as PET with a division into colors (transparent, green, blue, mix), PET tray, HDPE, PP, PS, multi-material beverage cartons, transparent PE film, colored PE film, paper, cardboard, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals (a total of about 15 raw material fractions) will be important.
Obviously, each facility is different, adapted to individual needs and conditions. Therefore, considering the technological process, a medium-scale technologically advanced sorting plant with a throughput of about 5-6 Mg/h of selectively collected plastics (or equivalently about 20 Mg/h of mixed municipal waste) and high efficiency should provide these processes: bag opening, control of the waste stream fed to the sorting, sieving (sieving out the fine fraction, separating the medium and oversieve), optical separation (min. 6-7 optical separators), ballistic separation, separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, cleaning of raw material fractions and pressing.
How many advanced sorting facilities is needed in Poland?
In Table 82 of the “National Waste Management Plan 2028” (KPGO), adopted in June 2023, the authors of this document, for the missing processing capacity, which amounts to 4 million Mg/year, determined the need to build 200 new facilities for automated sorting of selectively collected paper, plastics, multi-material waste, and metals with a capacity of 20,000 Mg/year each by 2028. According to the plan, in the following years (2029-2034), another 30 such sorting plants should be built and the processing capacity should be supplemented to 4.6 million Mg/year.
We could stop at the data contained in the KPGO, if not for the differences in the data that the plan refers to (4 million Mg/year of selectively collected waste), with those from the reports of the marshals of the voivodeships, which are quoted by the IOŚ. According to the data of this Institute, the total amount of selectively collected paper, plastics, and mixed packaging waste is 1.9 million Mg/year, not 4 million Mg/year, as stated in the KPGO. With this assumption, Poland would need 100, not 200, technologically advanced facilities for sorting selectively collected waste with a capacity of 20,000 Mg/year. In the context of this data, the question arises about the basis for preparing and conducting waste policy in Poland, because incorrect or outdated assumptions and data in the preparation of such a policy can translate into further wrong decisions in its implementation and expenditure of public funds.
If, on the other hand, we rely on the annual waste streams quoted above, according to IOŚ data, and take into account the technology for an average-sized facility, which is necessary to ensure effective waste sorting, it becomes possible to calculate the number of facilities needed to process municipal mixed waste and selectively collected plastics.
If the annual amount of mixed (non-segregated) municipal waste – according to IOŚ data – (for 2022) is approximately 7610 thousands Mg and we assume an average throughput of a technologically advanced sorting facility at the level of 70 thousand Mg/year, then the number of advanced facilities required for processing the annual stream of mixed municipal waste in Poland will be: 7622 thousands Mg/year : 70 thousands Mg/year = 109 facilities. If, on the other hand, the annual amount of selectively collected plastics, according to IOŚ data (for 2022), is approximately 825 thousand Mg, then with the assumed average throughput of a technologically advanced sorting facility at the level of 20 thousands Mg/year, the number of facilities required for processing the annual stream of plastics and mixed packaging waste in Poland is: 825 thousands Mg/year: 20 thousands Mg/year = 41 facilities.
Therefore, in total, to ensure effective sorting of mixed municipal waste and selectively collected plastics, at least 150 medium-sized advanced sorting facilities are needed, with a capacity of approximately 20 Mg/h for mixed waste and approximately 6 Mg/h for selectively collected plastics.
However, the calculations carried out require a comment. Because they only serve as a preliminary estimate of the needs for waste sorting facilities in Poland. They were carried out solely as calculations based on average values, assuming that each facility is the same, with the same throughput and configuration, and assuming that mixed waste is processed in separate facilities, and separately collected plastic waste in separate ones. The calculations omitted selectively collected paper, which, from a technological point of view, should be treated separately. Individual conditions and reality are, however, much more complex and differ from the simplified assumptions adopted. Therefore, when formulating conclusions based on such an analysis, the assumptions made and its limitations should be taken into account. This type of analysis serves only to determine the level of demand for municipal waste sorting facilities and should not be used in conditions relating to specific plants and planned investments for them.
What is the technological level of Polish municipal waste sorting facilities?
To identify and determine the number of the most technologically advanced municipal waste sorting facilities in Poland, equipped with at least six optical separators, a technological analysis was conducted on 80 municipal waste sorting facilities built by various contractors. This was not a representative sample, but the characteristic of the analyzed sample was that it included the most technologically advanced waste sorting facilities in Poland. As a result of the analysis, 32 sorting plants equipped with at least six optical separators, enabling effective waste sorting, were identified.
Most of the most technologically advanced facilities are multifunctional. They are prepared to process both selectively collected waste and mixed waste. These are very diverse facilities, and many of them are very technologically advanced. Therefore, if we have 32 advanced sorting plants in Poland that meet the criteria for effective waste sorting, and the estimated demand is 150 such facilities, then the technological level of Polish municipal waste sorting facilities in terms of preparing waste for recycling can be defined as follows: 32 (existing advanced facilities) : 150 (demand for advanced facilities) = approx. 20%. Of course, some errors may have crept into such a simplified analysis. Some facilities were not included in the number 32, and perhaps the denominator of the indicator was also not correctly determined, etc. However, assuming a margin of error of 50%, it can already be stated with a high degree of probability that the technological level of Polish facilities for effective, technologically advanced sorting of municipal waste in the context of preparing them for recycling is currently at the level of about 20-30% relative to existing needs.
However, it must be emphasized once again that in interpreting this indicator, one must be precise and remember that this is a simplified analysis with an adopted assessment criterion, which are the technologically advanced waste sorting facilities defined in this article. The level of 20-30% of the calculated indicator means that the needs related to the sorting and preparation of municipal waste for recycling significantly exceed the current technological capabilities. There is therefore a significant deficit of technological infrastructure or the level of its advancement and the corresponding investment needs, which include the need to build new facilities, as well as the expansion and retrofitting of existing sorting plants.
At the same time, such a level of technological advancement of the municipal waste sorting infrastructure in Poland is an opportunity for development and filling the investment gap. From the point of view of waste policy, this is an area that can be shaped, and which will translate into achieving higher levels of recovery and preparation of waste for recycling. It is also a comprehensive direction for raising the level of Polish facilities and expanding the system focused on the recovery and preparation for recycling of the full spectrum of material fractions, not just a few of the most valuable ones.
Factors determining the technological level of waste sorting facilities and waste preparation for recycling in the near future
When answering the question of what factors will determine the technological level of facilities and the preparation of waste for recycling in the near future, six important elements can be distinguished.
1. Funds from the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system directed to facilities
From 2025, a deposit system will probably be introduced in Poland. For facilities, this will mean a significant decrease in the most valuable material fractions, i.e., PET packaging and aluminum cans, in the structure of waste delivered for sorting. From an economic point of view, this will cause a significant decrease in the efficiency of the facilities’ operation and worsen investment conditions. To enable the achievement of growing waste management goals (increasingly higher levels of recovery and preparation of waste for recycling), it will be necessary to implement a mechanism that will restore profitability, ensure the stability of the facilities’ operation, and provide motivation to recover every ton of raw material fraction.
The Czech EPR system, firstly, already promotes the very acceptance of selectively collected waste. For plastics, the surcharge for acceptance for processing in 2024 is 1100 Kč/t (approx. 190 PLN). Secondly, facilities are motivated to recover every ton of raw materials, and the amount of the surcharge depends on the type of raw material and the structure of the sorted products. For example, the surcharge for each ton of separated PET is 3600 Kč/t (approx. 630 PLN), and for each ton of separated colored film 13000 Kč/t (approx. 2250 PLN) if the share of the separated film in the product structure is less than 10%, or 8800 Kč/t (approx. 1540 PLN) if the share of the separated film in the product structure is greater than 10%. Such differentiation of surcharges is intended to motivate facilities not only to recover every additional ton of raw material, but also to increase the diversity of sorted products, i.e., to separate a wide spectrum of raw materials. The third surcharge mechanism promotes the production of RDF fuel from sorting residues in the amount of 2400 Kč/t (approx. 420 PLN), but on the condition of achieving a raw material fraction recovery level of at least 42% at the facility, and after the introduction of the deposit system – on the condition of achieving a raw material fraction recovery level exceeding 25%. It is worth noting that the Czechs first introduced the EPR system, which is already functioning and supports the waste management system of that country, is consistent with the conditions of technological effectiveness and motivates the search for solutions tailored to the needs, ensuring the highest possible throughput of the facility, the highest level of recovery and sorting of raw material fractions. The deposit system in the Czech Republic, as in Poland, is to start operating from 2025, but discussions on its introduction are still ongoing. In Poland, on the other hand, the deposit system has already been introduced into the legal order on the basis of the Act of 13 July 2023, but solutions regarding the functioning of the EPR are still lacking and it is not known when and on what terms they will be introduced.
2. Stimulating the private sector and financing investments
Poland has great potential for the development of the private sector, which is interested in investing in technological infrastructure. Private enterprises, however, operate differently from public companies (backed by the public capital) , which are focused on meeting the collective needs of residents and are financed mostly from public funds and, until now, have also had a facilitated path to obtaining funding for the implementation of investment projects. The private sector also has the ability to implement waste management policy, but its philosophy of operation is based on building economic value and is primarily based on own and commercial financing. To further activate the private sector, it is necessary to open up the possibility of applying for co-financing for investment projects, and additionally to ensure the stability and profitability of operation, which is possible on the one hand through a system that motivates the implementation of waste policy and, at the same time, creates stability and conditions of profitability, such as the one implemented in the Czech Republic. Both the private and public sectors need stability of operating conditions, including market conditions, to achieve their goals and functions.
3. Simplifying investment procedures
It is difficult to effectively implement waste policy and accelerate investments if, for example, the time for issuing an environmental decision is on average 1-2 years, and this is only the initial stage of the investment. Earlier, you need to have land, develop a technological concept and land use. In turn, after issuing the environmental decision, there is a wait for financing. Later, time is needed for design, selection of contractors, construction of the plant and its technological equipment. The next step is to obtain the required decisions for use, including an integrated permit, for which it is also necessary to wait an average of 1-2 years. Altogether, an investment lasting 5 years from the start of its preparation to commissioning must be considered well-prepared and conducted.
In addition, there are other aspects, such as the level of detail required at the stage of the environmental decision, concerning: descriptions and configuration of technologies, identification of waste codes, mass of waste accepted and generated, and a full waste balance. The requirement for such a detailed presentation of the project in an application for an environmental decision appears several years before the start of using the technological facility. Meanwhile, conditions change, waste streams, their morphology, but also technology, and with them calculations as well. However, the investor remains bound by overly detailed provisions of the decision, which become a barrier to later adjustment or optimization of technological solutions. Simplifying investment procedures and streamlining the issuance of administrative decisions is another necessary condition for accelerating the development and raising the technological level of facilities in the preparation of waste for recycling.
4. Relations between the state and the waste industry, and support for municipalities and facilities
The fourth condition is to improve the quality of waste policy. As the creator of the scientific management school, Peter Drucker, once wrote: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Effective and efficient waste policy can only be built on knowledge and facts, resulting from a diagnosis of the state, research on needs, problems, but also expectations of municipalities and facilities in relation to waste management goals. In this context, it may be necessary to verify the provisions of the KPGO. Furthermore, one cannot speak of the effective implementation of waste policy when there is a lack of meeting and dialogue between those who prepare and adopt the policy and those who are responsible for its implementation. Meetings that are receptive to listening, which is creative and leads to the development of effective solutions, rather than relying on persuading to a pre-prepared thesis.
Municipalities and enterprises responsible for waste collection and operation of facilities need real support, aimed at achieving waste management goals. While larger cities have separate departments and units that are substantively prepared and responsible for waste management, smaller towns and municipalities do not have sufficient personnel potential, and these matters, including the preparation of investments, are often handled personally by mayors or village heads. Municipal representatives do not always have sufficient knowledge in the field of waste management. Therefore, it is necessary to provide them with systematic substantive support, prepare guidelines, a database of good practices, etc. This is also an element of managing and implementing waste policy. Just as facilities are a key element of the waste management system and require stable conditions for operation and development, so municipalities, as the next, higher level of the system, to which the obligations of achieving waste management goals are delegated, require the attention and support of the state.
5. Eco-design
In the stream of plastics delivered for sorting in Poland, there is about 30-60% of waste that cannot be recovered and directed to recycling for two reasons. Firstly, due to the impurities contained in the waste stream, which are not of a plastic nature, and their content results from improper waste segregation by residents. The second group is raw material fractions that are not suitable for recycling due to their material composition, multi-materiality or color, e.g. PVC heat-shrinkable labels, mixing of materials within a single package (e.g. plastic with aluminum, paper with plastic, paper with plastic and aluminum, etc.), non-standard PET colors, etc. The share of the second group of waste can be estimated at several percent in the stream of plastics delivered for sorting. Eco-design therefore has the potential to increase the share of packaging that can be recovered and directed to recycling. Improving the quality of packaging, leading to an increase in the potential for recovery of raw material fractions contained in waste, will not affect the waste sorting technology, which means that eco-design should not cause the need to change technological systems, and the result will be not only an increase in the level of waste recovered for recycling, but also an improvement in the purity of sorted materials.
6. Supporting the development of the recycling sector
Recycling companies are the recipients and represent the demand side on the market for raw material fractions separated in municipal waste sorting facilities. An example is the market for film separated in a sorting plant. If a recycling company has a manual line for preparing the film for recycling processes, it will only look on the market for the highest quality film, separated in the process of sorting municipal waste, i.e. film of large dimensions (>300/340 mm), simple to sort and of high purity. Due to the available manual process of cleaning the film before recycling processes, the acceptance of fine film (with a granulation of e.g. 80-340 mm) with a content of impurities of about 30% would make the cleaning process more difficult: reduced cleaning throughput, required higher process efficiency, and as a result, lower profitability. Fine film is therefore a less attractive commodity for recyclers. If the content of impurities in the film is 30%, then 70% of the raw material (film) is still present in this stream. If, as a result of the above circumstances, it does not go to recycling, it will eventually be directed to disposal as a high-calorie fraction. Recycling of fine film fraction (80-340 mm) is possible, but requires a prior cleaning process, which due to the limitations of manual solutions requires an automation process, and thus investment costs for the construction of appropriate facilities. Supporting the development of the recycling sector, e.g. fine film, would increase the level of waste recycling, increase the demand for fine film separated in municipal waste sorting plants and, as a result, increase the level of recovery and improve the economic conditions of municipal waste sorting facilities.
Facilities within the context of municipal systems
While this article has focused on municipal waste sorting facilities, they operate within municipal systems. Municipalities are responsible for managing municipal waste within their territories. They are also responsible for achieving waste management goals, including increasingly higher levels of preparation for the reuse and recycling of municipal waste. During the previously mentioned IOŚ conference entitled “Sustainable plastic packaging: from production to recycling”, which took place on June 25, 2024 in Warsaw, data on the level of recycling of plastic waste in Poland was presented, which amounted to over 49% for 2021 and over 45% for 2022. These are levels that, with the current state of technological infrastructure, also indicate the effectiveness of municipal systems.
On the map of Poland, one can point to examples of many cities and municipalities where wise decisions and the commitment of responsible individuals have allowed for the step-by-step construction of infrastructure for processing municipal waste within municipal systems, aimed at achieving waste management goals and adapted to local needs. These include, for example: Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk and Kraków, as well as many smaller ones: Bielsko-Biała, Chojnice, Działdowo, Ełk, Gniezno, Janczyce, Kalisz, Krosno, Olszowa, Radom, Sierzno, Słajsino, Słupsk, Radomsko, Sosnowiec, Tychy, Włocławek, and probably many others.
It is important to recognize the real needs of municipal systems and facilities within the current perspective on the waste management system and to support and supplement them with new solutions. If the waste management system is to achieve better results after the introduction of changes, then the changes introduced to the system cannot destabilize this system at its foundations. In the European Union, the principle of subsidiarity is one of the fundamental principles of operation. According to this principle, a higher level of organization (of a system) should support the operation of a lower level, and therefore in the waste management system: municipalities should support facilities, and the Polish state – municipalities in meeting the requirements placed on them.
It is also important to base decisions on reliable data and be guided by the principle of efficiency. The beginning of this is to know and estimate the effects and costs of actions, decisions or introduced changes, especially systemic ones.
This article was prepared after the conference, organized by The Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute, on the topic of: “Sustainable plastic packaging: from production to recycling”, held in Warsaw, on the 25th of June 2024., and is a text version of the presentation given by the author on the matter of: “The technological level of Polish municipal waste sorting facilities in the context of preparing them for recycling, today and tomorrow.”
