Prague, April 27 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has a monopoly system of packaging waste sorting, which is financially effective and boosts the process of recycling, according to an independent study whose results its authors, from the Centre of Economic and Market Analyses (CETA), called surprising yesterday.
It is the recycling practice that seems to motivate people to actively join the collection and sorting of wastes, the study says.
The study compares the Czech system of waste sorting and recycling, which is a monopoly controlled by the EKO-KOM firm, with the systems elsewhere in Europe where more companies operate in this branch, such as Germany, Slovakia and the Netherlands.
It has turned out that the Czech system operates smoothly, with low costs and a relatively effective management, Ales Rod, from CETA, said.
Experts expected the competition systems to prove more effective than monopoly ones. However, the survey showed that the competition has no influence on the recycling rate. On the contrary, it exerts pressure on the growth of costs, mainly administrative ones, and motivates the rival companies to cheat and misuse the system, Rod said.
CETA director Jiri Schwarz said this is another example proving that competition in particular branches need not necessarily produce better results than a well-functioning and well-organised monopoly.
A total of 2.5 billion tonnes of waste are annually generated in the EU, including 2.5 billion tonnes of packaging waste.
In the Czech Republic, the produced packaging waste stands at some 96 kilograms per inhabitant a year.
In 2013, the Czech Republic’s waste recycling rate reached 70 percent, and the country ended sixth in the EU.
