Workshop on solid waste management in Garla Mare.
Presentations and a report on the solid waste management workshop in Garla Mare, Romania.
23.02.2006 |Margriet Samwel
Saturday 3 March, 2006, Geo-san and WECF organised a workshop on waste management in the town hall of Garla Mare. The local government was represented by the Mayor, the Vice-mayor and the Counsellor. The members of Geo-san and the Mayor addressed citizens personally to join the workshop on waste management. Over forty citizens were interested and came to attend a presentation on waste management tools and discussed the presented solutions afterwards. The local government took part in this discussion with practical suggestions and informed citizens about plans that were under construction.
The presentation was especially developed for the waste stream in Garla Mare. A research in 2005 by the Open University Netherlands showed that solid waste in Garla Mare consists mainly of organic waste and plastic. Therefore the waste management tools presented were: waste spreading, composting, biogas production and the local production of recycled plastic granulate. The logistics and newly developed environmental legislation were also presented and discussed in order to make a practical choice possible that can be implemented according to Romanian legislation.
During the workshop villagers expressed that they were willing to divert waste at household level. Some citizens already have a composting site at home. Glass and plastic bottles are reused at home, metal is collected by the Roma people.
All parties agreed that a composting site will be the best option for treatment of separated organic waste. The local government developed a plan for a composting site recently and could show the planned location to the villagers. The local government states that this location has a thick clay layer that protects the groundwater and cannot be flooded by the Danube. The town hall has no budget for a drainage system and roof, but other simple measures can be used on this location.
The mayor proposed to collect the separated organic waste with a tractor with platform. The mayor offered to organise staff for collection activities. Some citizens suggested that citizens get a little bonus when they collect and transport organic waste to the composting site. Food for the horse was suggested for a bonus. In this way the waste collection system creates a little income for the citizens. This difference in opinion remained during the discussion.
There is a new cooperation between villages in the region to obtain funding for a local temporarily landfill for plastic waste. The final destination for plastic will be a landfill in Turnu Severin.
The local government wants to clean the streets in the village. The mayor and Geo-san suggested to buy simple metal dustbins, prickets and gloves to be able to keep the village clean. The city hall could organise some staff for cleaning operations.
Source:
Anneloes Wolters – de Baat, workshop leader, March 7, 2006.
Other results from activities supported by ‘Fondation Ensemble’:
- Presentation on household waste management tools in Romanian and English.
- A student of the Open University Netherlands investigated the household waste management in 2005. There is a draft of the report ‘Solid Waste Management in Garla Mare, Managing the beauty of the Danube’ available on this website.
- A multimedia production was developed to inform local NGO’s via internet about waste management tools and to support and create discussions within the local NGO’s. This production is available on CD and can be obtained by contacting Anneloes Wolters.
Presentation Afval workshop (English)
Presentation Afval workshop (Romanian)
Report on Solid Waste Management in Garla Mare
