Plastic waste from Ljubljana will be incinerated in Vienna

Plastic waste from Ljubljana and its vicinity shall be transported to Vienna for non-profit incineration, as part of collaboration between the two cities, confirmed the waste management company “Snaga” from Ljubljana.

Under the agreement between Vienna and Ljubljana, Slovenian waste would be incinerated at the price of EUR 54 per ton, which would be covered from the energy produced, so the city of Ljubljana would only bear the cost of transportation, according to news agency FENA.

Slovenian capital has a problem with plastic waste since it turned out the citizens did not want the incineration plant, whose construction was planned for several years, built in their city. The nearest plant is in Celj, but it works on a for-profit basis, so this way of handling waste would be too costly.

The arrangement, which has yet to be approved by the Ministry for environment, applies to 8.000 tons of plastic waste per year.

Non-governmental organization “Ecologists without borders” is against this solution, since Ljubljana is a part of the international “Zero waste” programme, which gathers cities whose goal is to reuse or recycle all the waste. The Slovenian branch of this international association warns that Ljubljana might lose its status if it ships off waste to Austria.

Ljubljana was the European Green Capital for the year 2016, in recognition of its efforts and commitment to improve the urban environment and boost awareness of the need for environmental change at the city level.