Avfallsbransjens adventskalender: Luke 21
Nei, vi ha`kke tid, for vi må finne skjegget og åpne luke 21 i Avfallsbransjens julekalender.
Navn: Vanya Varas
Stilling: Administrerende direktør, Municipal Waste Europe
Hvordan vil du oppsummere 2021?
– 2021 was a very active year in terms of waste policy. There was great progress at EU level on waste shipments, plastics and the start of discussions on the next revision of the waste framework Directive. The latter, in my view, to further facilitate implementation and support a circular economy. Unfortunately, COVID caused a great deal more litter because of ‘disposable’ masks etc and with the justification of hygiene we went back to ‘wrapped in plastic is fantastic’. Plastic per se is not the problem; it’s recyclability is the issue and controlling brokers and dealers so that these valuable materials that we make so much effort to collect separately do not end up dumped in a landfill, legal or illegal, somewhere around the globe instead of being recycled and put back into the economy. I was most taken aback by the increase in environmental crimes within the EU.
Hvilke forventninger har du til 2022?
– I expect that 2022 will bring more focus on dealing with environmental crimes in the waste field to prevent valuable materials from disappearing and also to prevent the landfilling of organic waste in any form. Although there has been a lot of negative feedback after COP26, I am optimistic. Policy leaders have recognised the urgency of mediating and adapting to climate change; it is now the job of national, regional and local governments and business to implement. We have the legislation and funding structures in the EU; in many cases, governance is what is missing as well as local knowledge. So I expect better governance, more knowledge sharing and an improvement in national waste management plans following the 2018 Waste Framework Directive implementation.
Det er åtte år igjen til 2030. Kommer vi til å nå målene i Parisavtalen?
– If we carry on at our current pace of implementation I do not think we will meet the Paris climate change goals. We need to get serious, unblock and closely monitor the funding needed to transform our economic models to get there. For waste management this means getting serious about biowaste, anaerobic digestion and composting, and getting that compost into regenerative farming. I am so enthusiastic about this because so much CO2 and CO2e is saved by treating biowaste in this way and so much CO2 is sequestered by applying compost to soil for soil remediation: 110kg CO2 per ton of compost from separately collected biowaste. The positive impact continues with the sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere by the regenerated soil!
Hva spiser og drikker du til ju?
– Local, chemical free red wine, as is and as glühwein; local, free range turkey and lots of vegetables grown in our garden and by local regenerative farmers. Too much cake, melomakarona, kourabiedes (Greek Christmas sweets), mince pies (English Christmas sweets), locally and home made as well!
Hvem vil du sende en julehilsen?
– I send my greeting to Hakon Jentoft, Stefanie Siebert of ECN, and the anaerobic digestion and composting sector. Merry Christmas!
