The Republic of North Macedonia does not have an integrated system for plastic waste management in place and activities taken in that field do not have effect on plastic waste reduction and do not provide sustainable development through plastic waste processing. Functional selection and return of plastic waste as main preconditions for its processing are not in place. The volume of collected plastic waste in the country is small and usually ends up on the landfills.
The State Audit Office (SAO) conducted performance audit on the topic “Efficient treatment and management of plastic waste” to answer the question whether plastic waste is managed in a way that allows waste reduction and achievement of set goals, SAO said Wednesday in a press release.
The audit was carried out in line with SAO 2020 Annual Work Program and covered the period 2017 – 2019, although certain areas, issues and events covered the period before 2017 until the date of reporting on the audit.
This cooperative audit was carried out as part of SAO international activities and the audit report will be included in EUROSAI WGEA International Audit Report on Plastic Waste Management, to be jointly prepared in 2021 with eleven other supreme audit institutions.
The plastic waste management system includes many institutions – Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning — Department of Environment (the Ministry), local self-government units, regional waste management centers, public enterprises, legal entities and individuals providing public utilities, individual waste collectors, waste processors, legal entities handling packaging waste, State Inspectorate of Environment, etc.
The legislation envisages adoption of a number of strategic, planning and program documents at central, local and regional level and the auditors found out that some of these documents are not adopted and some are outdated. This points to problems in setting up an integrated waste management system. Although certain activities have been initiated, regional waste management is not in place and there are no basic conditions for prevention of waste generation and processing, the press release reads.
Data from competent institutions indicate that less than 1% of the total collected waste in North Macedonia is being recycled. In addition, no initiatives and activities are taken for reusing plastic waste. The collected volume of selected plastic waste in the country is minimal – it represents about 1.4% of the total collected waste in one year, and it is mostly the result of actions taken by collective packaging waste handlers and the informal sector (individual collectors).
Collective packaging waste handlers have central place in the plastic waste management system. They link manufacturers/importers who place products and packaging on the market, which at the end of their life cycle create waste that burdens the environment, with legal entities and individuals who collect and transport plastic waste. The latter are also obliged to process or dispose of collected plastic waste.
The informal waste collection sector in North Macedonia is a social group of several thousand citizens, including children, who collect and value waste through activities that are not organized and supported. The auditors found out that this informal sector is barely mentioned in the legislation, except in the part for their registration as operators of waste trade. The possibility for formalization and organization of this sector through a social enterprise or public-private partnership, which would provide them with stable income and legalize their activities, has not been considered.
Concerning activities taken for plastic waste management, they do not facilitate prevention and reduction of the volume of generated plastic waste and do not ensure sustainable development through its processing. Additionally, waste selection is not a daily habit and behavior of the citizens in North Macedonia and there is low level of primary and secondary waste selection, which adversely affects the treatment of plastic waste.
One of the reasons behind citizen’s behavior is the insignificant number of waste selection bins in relation to the number of inhabitants and the index of generated waste, which practically indicates that there are no conditions for waste selection. There are no initiatives and activities for reusing plastic waste and no incentives for plastic waste processing. In addition, the manufacturers have not taken significant measures to extend the life cycle of products.
In North Macedonia, collection and transportation of municipal waste is almost entirely performed by public utility companies (PUCs) established by the municipalities and the City of Skopje, which have obtained permit from the Ministry. The auditors found out that PUCs do not have sufficient number of special vehicles for collection and transportation of packaging waste (selected waste), and due to their financial situation, some of them are not able to procure new ones.
Setting up functional integrated waste management system requires stable financial resources for regular and sufficient revenue to cover costs. Financial resources based on the Annual Program for investing in the environment and the fees collected (packaging waste management, bags for transport of goods and waste management) do not enable sustainability of the system by those who generate waste, which also affects plastic waste management and does not allow consistent application of the “polluter pays” principle.
The small amount of packaging waste management fee paid to the treasury account is due to the legal possibility for taxpayers to be exempted from paying the fee if they have signed an agreement with a collective packaging waste handler to take on obligations for packaging waste management. The collective packaging waste handler is obliged to use the profit for fulfilling national objectives through collection and processing or recycling waste generated from packaging. The audit report points out that collective packaging waste handlers independently and without restrictions decide on the manner of using realized revenue. The amount of collected fees paid to the treasury account or to the collective packaging waste handlers is insignificant, indicating insufficient funding for encouraging activities for collection, transport, processing and disposal of packaging waste, reads the press release.
It adds that the legal entities that operate waste treatment and processing import waste to achieve efficient operation of their capacities and usually export the processed waste to the international market. Concerning import and export of waste, since June 2018 the Ministry, at its own request, ceased to use the EXIM system of the Customs Administration of the Republic of North Macedonia for issuing approvals for import, export and transit of waste. By disconnecting from this system, the Ministry has restricted the possibility for electronic monitoring of approvals issued for one-year period.
The auditors found out that the established system of records and information does not provide complete, accurate and up-to-date information related to issued permits, collected, processed and deposited plastic waste. There is lack of activities for monitoring waste management at national and local level and the supervisory activities by competent institutions are insufficient.
The State Audit Office made the following performance audit conclusion: the policies, measures and activities taken by the competent institutions for setting up an integrated plastic waste management system are not effective and do not facilitate prevention and reduction of the volume of generated plastic waste, efficient utilization of usable waste materials and full compliance with waste management principles.
This cooperative audit was carried out as part of SAO international activities and the audit report will be included in EUROSAI WGEA International Audit Report on Plastic Waste Management, to be jointly prepared in 2021 with eleven other supreme audit institutions, SAO press release reads.
