[greenyes] GAIA ACTION Alert: Support Slovenian

["Gigie Cruz" <gigie.gaia@no.address>]

Dear Friends,

Support Slovenian NGO Action towards a  Healthy and Sustainable

Waste Management Program

Zivjo (hello in Slovene) from Ljubljana and Manila.

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives / Global Anti-Incinerator

Alliance (GAIA), the Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development

(Umanotera) and other NGOs in Slovenia are jointly  issuing this Action

Alert to seek your very important endorsement of the NGO position paper as

regards the "Draft Operational Programme  on Waste Disposal with Strategy

on Reduction of Biodegradable Waste  to Landfill, 2003-2008" or OP.  The

support of concerned groups in  Slovenia and other countries is being

sought to bolster the local  campaign towards a more progressive waste

prevention and reduction approach in the country, which excludes  waste

incineration. Please send your endorsement before 15 September 2003.

Background Information:

Slovenia, which adopted strategic guidelines on waste management in

1996, is in the process of crafting a new one that will be consistent

with=

thepolicies and directives of the European Union.  In June 2003, the

Ministry of Environmental, Spatial Planning and Energy (MoE)

published the draft OP. A core component of the OP is the construction of

two incinerators for municipal waste in Kidricevo and Trbovlje, regions

with already degraded environment and regressed economy. If plans push

through, these incinerators will be operational by 2008 or 2009.  As a

result, 55% of generated waste will be sent to incinerators for the next

20-25 years!  Slovenia generates aproximately 1,050.000 tonnes of waste

per year that end up on landfills, 840,000 tonnes of which are municipal

solid waste.

The MoE actively promotes and supports the incineration of waste as

"low cost" and "environment-friendly" technique for managing waste.

Because of this partiality to the burn approach, the OP has laid down low

recycling targets and practically set no waste prevention measures. Local

NGOs view the policy of the Ministry as a direct attack on the efforts of

local communities and other stakeholders in the waste management chain to

achieve efficient waste segregation and recycling in Slovenia. Healthy and

sustainable options for managing discards are available, which do not harm

human health and the environment, create new jobs, and cut the use of

often non-renewable natural resources.

Recommendations of Slovenian NGOs:

The following are the 9-point recommendations that the Slovenian

NGOs have forwarded to the MoE:

1) OP should aim for 80% waste diversion from landfills by 2015. For

that period, the moratorium on all types of waste incineration has to be

enforced. 2) OP should include measures and targets with timetable

directed at increasing the volume of all separately collected materials,

with special emphasis on the toxic fraction of waste. 3) OP should strive

for a completed study on dioxin levels in the environment and the human

body by the end of 2004. 4) OP should include the evaluation of the

potential social impacts of waste incineration to affected regions, and

consider appropriate compensation since these regions are taking the

environmental risks. 5) OP should incorporate a detailed plan to establish

an open dialogue with all interested stakeholders on different waste

management options. It should not promote only the option that the most

powerful stakeholder considers as adequate. 6) OP should contain a

proposal to integrate extended producer responsibility into Slovenian

waste management legislation. 7) OP, when evaluating the reduction of

green-house gas emissions, should consider all green-house gases and the

impact of different waste management options. 8) OP, when discussing the

impact of waste incineration on the energy production, should conduct an

exact evaluation of the energy produced and energy lost from burning

waste, and should further take into account the entire life-cycle of

products and/or their packaging. 9) OP should estimate possibilities of

decreasing the biodegradable waste to landfill by: * Promoting intensive

segregation of biodegradable waste at source,=B7 Introducing backyard

composting, * Building small local composting facilities, * Initiating

other innovative non-combustion treatment technologies for biodegradable

waste. * Supporting information and education programmes for local

communities and households.

To read the complete NGO position paper (1,564 words), please

request a copy from the GAIA Secretariat.

Suggested Action :

To support the Slovenian NGO campaign, please e-mail the GAIA

Secretariat to convey your endorsement of their position paper.

Required information:  1) full name of your organization, 2) your

designated representative, 3) her/his position in the organization, 4) e-

mail, mailing address and phone and fax numbers.  DEADLINE: 15 September

2003.

GAIA members and friends who have the time to comment on the

specific components of the OP are encouraged to do so.  You may

send your comments to the government of Slovenia through Minister

Janez Kopac of the MoE (janez.kopac@no.address)  Please cc your letter to

jani.zore@no.address (the ministry staff in charge of collecting comments on

the OP) and also to Umanotera  (erika@no.address) and to GAIA

(manny.gaia@no.address burn.org).

Hvala vam (thank you in Slovene) and wishing you success in your

work to save the planet.

Sincerely,

Manny C. Calonzo

Assistant Coordinator

GAIA

manny.gaia@no.address

www.gaia.org

Erika Oblak

Managing Director

Umanotera

erika@no.address

www.umanotera.org