In recent years, the Hungarian-Romanian border region has experienced a threatening increase in per capita household waste (3-4% over the past 5 years, and 10-12% in Hungary and Romania, in general). Romanian riverside settlements and some parts of the Hungarian Southern Great-Plain falling into the area of the Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme share a common problem related to municipal waste. The increased amounts of municipal waste and in some cases, the lack of organised waste collection systems result in the appearance of illegal municipal waste deposits at cross-border riverbanks and flood basins.
These represent a serious environmental and health threat on local level, while river pollution holds a more international perspective, in particular as far as waste transport over long distances is concerned.
By eliminating 5000 tons of existing illegal waste deposits at 20 Hungarian and 63 Romanian municipalities along the riverbanks of the Túr/Tur, Kraszna/Crasna, Szamos/Someş, Berettyó/Barcău and Sebes-Körös/Crişul Repede rivers, the Clean Rivers Project aims to serve as a good example in the prevention of future pollution in this area. In addition, 83 collection containers will be placed to partner settlements and emptied twice a month for a year ensuring that less or no waste will pollute these rivers and their surroundings.
Each partner municipality will receive a Waste Management Action Plan, which will help them in mapping out local waste development opportunities. In order to quantify the results of the waste elimination and placement of the containers, laboratory tests of water samples will be performed. The test results will be used to raise awareness among locals, providing them information about the activities performed, the location of waste containers and several methods to prevent, reduce and collect municipal waste. |
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