A. Armonaitė: "Lithuania needs to increase the use of waste in the production of new products"
Lithuania needs to triple the recycling of waste and its use in the production of new products to catch up with the EU average, says Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation. Currently, only about 4% of Lithuania's waste is transformed into new products.
In 2021, Lithuanian residents and businesses will throw away about 6.9 million tonnes of waste. Most of the waste will be generated by the metal, chemical, wood and paper industries. The Lifosa plant in Kėdainiai generates up to 1.7 million tonnes of waste. Lithuania ranks fourth from the bottom in the European Union in terms of the amount of waste generated by the manufacturing sector.
"This is a problem that has received too little attention in the past. Waste is dumped or incinerated, but it is better for nature and people if it is recycled and used to make new products. We want to make a real improvement in this area to make Lithuania greener and cleaner," says A.Armonaitė.
The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation is earmarking up to a quarter of the €1 billion in Lithuania's economic plan - €268 million - to improve the sustainability and green credentials of Lithuanian industry. The money will enable Lithuanian companies to introduce innovation and sustainable technologies, reduce waste and use environmentally friendly raw materials or recycled waste.
According to A. Armonaitė, old equipment and technologies are one of the main reasons why the manufacturing sector produces a lot of waste and pollutes the environment.
On Friday, she visited Plasta, which operates on the principle of circular economy - sorting, recycling and producing plastic bags - and presented a special support measure for the production of new products from recycled waste. In September this year, the €8 million "Green Experiment" call was launched for industrial companies to develop innovative technologies for the use of recycled waste. The maximum possible support per company is €0.5 million. This amount can fund research, experimentation and preparation for the production of a new product.
"We need to look at waste as a resource for the production of new products. We have developed measures to encourage Lithuanian companies to recycle waste and use it to produce new products. Our goal is to significantly increase the circularity of our economy in the coming years," said the Minister of the Economy and Innovation.