The hazardous waste landfill in Komorniki (Kleszczewo Commune, Greater Poland) will be eliminated even this year. The County of Poznań and the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Poznań will pay 2.4 million zlotys for its removal.
Jan Grabkowski, the Governor of Poznań informed at a press conference that the County Council decided to allocate 1.2 million zlotys for the removal of the ‘ecological bomb’. Earlier, the same amount has been declared for this purpose by the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.
In early August 2014, a barrel with chemicals became unsealed in private warehouse in Komorniki near Kleszczewo. A fire brigade neutralized the material leaking from a container. As it turned out, in the facility of approximately 800 square meters over 1.3 thousand tons of waste was left for utilization. The barrels were in poor condition and ran a serious risk of unsealing. Administrative enforcement proceedings against the entrepreneur who stored the hazardous waste were ineffective as the man did not have any property.
After the incident, the Governor of Poznan applied to the Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection to inscribe the site on the list of the so-called ‘ecological bombs’. The decision of the Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection allowed the Governor to apply to the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management for financial support to remove the hazardous waste .
In late September, the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management announced the allocation of 1.2 million zlotys for the removal of the waste. On Tuesday, the County Council agreed to cover the rest of the costs from the county budget.
– The contract for the magazine cleaning will be signed within the next two weeks. The whole operation of removal should take no more than six weeks – Grabkowski said.
The Governor added that he informed the Minister of Environment and the province governor of Greater Poland that the current regulations in the field of waste management were insufficient and were used for illegal activities. The Governor says that the entrepreneurs who want to collect or process hazardous waste should have a financial security. A change in the regulations of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is also needed.
– Currently, the regulations stipulate that the subsidies for removal of the ‘ecological bomb’ can be granted only if it is on land belonging to the state. The one in Komorniki is not. We hope that the Fund will determine new rules for granting aid to local governments – Grabkowski said.
The Minister of Environment Maciej Grabowski, present at the opening of the International Trade Fair for Environmental Protection Poleko on Tuesday, said in an interview for PAP that the Governor of Poznań talked to him about the warehouse in Komorniki.
– There is a problem. It is a new signal for me. It is difficult to comment on the Governor’s idea regarding e.g. the introduction of securities – Grabowski said.
The case of the landfill in Kleszczewo is examined by the police under the supervision of the prosecutor’s office.
