Taraba: Building Capacities for Recycling among Our Priorities

Bratislava, April 19 (TASR) - Building new capacities for recycling and energy recovery of waste is one of the priorities of the current leadership of the Environment Ministry, Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) said on Friday. "We consider them to be strategic projects that we'll address in accordance with the new legislation currently in Parliament," Taraba told TASR. The minister said it in response to the statements by representatives of the Association of Industrial Unions and Transport and the Waste Industry Association, who pointed out that Slovakia as an industrially oriented country faces a serious lack of capacity for recycling and energy recovery of waste. They stated that in the context of the European Union's objectives, Slovakia needs to focus on the development of modern waste management that minimises landfilling. Although the volume of industrial waste exceeds the volume of municipal waste by more than four times, according to the associations, it hasn't been given appropriate attention by the state for a long time. Currently, only Bratislava and Kosice have waste-to-energy facilities. am/mcs