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At the beginning of the year, the door-to-door kitchen green and food waste collection will start in Debrecen. 

‘Door-to-door collection of kitchen green and food waste will start in Szolnok; the system will be operated by MOHU MOL Waste Management Ltd. (MOHU MOL Hulladékgazdálkodási Zrt.) and National Waste Management Service Zounok Ltd. (NHSZ Zounok Kft.), ’ the head of product and material flow of MOHU at a press conference in Szolnok on Friday announced. Judit Borsfay-Horváth said that the program starts in certain parts of condominiums.

‘Based on international experience, the quantity and quality of collected food waste can be increased most with the door-to-door system. In this way, the greenhouse gas emissions of landfills can be significantly reduced, the soil quality can be improved, and the operational efficiency of the general waste management system can be increased, ’ she added.

‘MOHU undertook to recycle 65 per cent of the total amount of domestic waste by 2040 and to reduce the amount of waste destined for landfill, which is currently extremely high in the country, to below 10 per cent, ‘ she explained. She called the company’s goal to create an efficiently functioning, unified waste management system, including selective waste collection. ‘The company performing concessionary waste management tasks will gradually and continuously introduce door-to-door collection of organic kitchen waste from 2024. Kitchen green and food waste is reused in biogas plants, thus contributing to the development of a circular economy, since electricity and heat are produced from it as a renewable energy source,’ she said.

‘Moreover, due to its high nutrient content, the residue formed in the biogas plant forms excellent compost and humus-like material for agriculture. It will be essential to collect material of the highest purity during the recovery, ‘she noted.

László Lits, the Managing Director of National Waste Management Service Zounok Ltd. in Szolnok, said they wanted to reach 20,000 people, meaning more than 5,400 families, with the program in the first round. Typically, the program would affect people living in the Széchenyi district and ten-story buildings on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street. 

‘Participants in the program receive a 5-litre kitchen collection container for each apartment, which is not only easy to handle but also odourless and leak-free. In addition, a 120-litre brown bin is also distributed to apartment buildings, which must be pulled out in front of the house in the usual way on the specified days. Initially, the brown bin would be emptied once a week, twice a week in the summer, and washed once a month,’ he said.

‘On the 27th of January and the 3rd of February, the distribution of 5-litre kitchen collection containers to the population will begin in three places in the Széchenyi district, ‘ he emphasised.

Ferenc Szalay, Mayor of Szolnok (Fidesz-KDNP), spoke about how waste management without selective collection was a thing of the past. He drew attention to the fact that the Képó landfill would be full without selective waste collection, so it is essential to reduce the amount of incoming waste. The city manager also called the cooperation of the residents important. He recalled that around four thousand home composting devices had been provided in the city and region, which had made a big improvement.

‘The program will be gradually launched in fourteen settlements at the beginning of the year. In several places, the service can start as early as February, and in other settlements in March, Judit Borsfay-Horváth answered the Hungarian Telegraph Office (MTI) question.

According to the information on the MOHU website, the affected settlements are condominium areas of Budapest, Miskolc, Debrecen, Székesfehérvár, Szolnok, Kecskemét, Cegléd, Zalaegerszeg, Békéscsaba, Nagykanizsa, Tatabánya, Kaposvár, Gyula, and Békés.

‘According to the information distributed at the event, a variety of organic waste can be placed in the kitchen green and food waste bin, for example, fruit and vegetable remains, coffee ground, tea grass (but not the filter), spices, eggshells, cooked leftover food, baked goods or even processed food and meat products. However, it is important not to throw bones, food packaging, dust bags, dust filters, tissues, or diapers into it. In addition to being non-compostable, these and similar materials can damage the recycling machines. It will also be forbidden to put tree branches, leaves, twigs and municipal waste in the brown bins, ‘ MOHU wrote.

Source: Dehir