Each inhabitant of Slovakia produces about 327 kg of waste on an annual basis. Up to 45% of this waste is constituted by biodegradable waste. The Slovak company JRK Waste Management aims to reduce the amount of mixed municipal waste by increasing its separation. Since 2010 it has been working with municipalities and individuals to promote home composting. In 2015 the company reduced the amount of greenhouse gases by over 4,000 tonnes and prevented the dumping of 650,000 hectolitres of biodegradable waste. Its electric composter with polyextremophilic bacteria is the only alternative to compulsory collection of kitchen and restaurant waste. The company’s solutions helped municipalities make savings of ten thousands of euros. JRK Waste Management’s project  “For Less Waste”,  which promotes home composting, received a Via Bona Slovakia  Award in the Green Company category in 2015.

We talked to Radoslav Košík, JRK Waste Management’s CEO, about the company’s CRS activities in 2016. 

What did the Via Bona Slovakia Award for 2015 in the Green Company category mean to you?

In which direction have you developed in the past year?

We focused on an analysis of our clients’ real needs – especially on the needs of municipalities – in the area of waste management. We want to accomplish our mission – to reduce the amount of mixed municipal waste by increasing its separation. The new Waste Act brought changes to the management of biodegradable waste. It set forth that all related costs are funded directly from municipalities’ budgets. We therefore believe that all stakeholders will do their best to responsibly separate not only glass, metals, plastics, and paper. By the way, these do not present strain on the municipal budget because all costs incurred are reimbursed by a producers’ responsibility organization. We believe that all stakeholders will try as hard as possible to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste, which would otherwise end up in mixed municipal waste containers. Such waste will not end up on dumpsites but can be transformed to compost directly by its producers – citizens. The best waste is zero waste.

What sustainable or CRS activities are you currently involved in? What projects can we look forward to? 

The philosophy of our e-shops, which we operate in three European countries, has been expanded by the idea of waste reduction. Our portfolio now includes products which help prevent waste production. Besides all kinds of composters, we sell reusable glass and plastic bottles, environment-friendly household detergents made from soap nuts, or organic cotton “bags” to replace HDPE bags for fruit and vegetables in supermarkets. In the near future we are planning to expand our portfolio to include a new product category – compostable packaging. We believe that each responsible restaurateur, hotel owner, and popular street food cook will adopt it.

We are very proud that several days ago we succeeded in introducing our long-term big project to the market – a smart waste registration system called ECONIT, which will help hundreds of municipalities in the Czech Republic to separate up to 84% of waste. It will reduce dumping, increase separation and municipal waste income. Yes, what you are reading is correct – not costs, but income.

We are happy to have helped the non-profit sector as well. We have successfully started cooperation with the Circular Economy Institute, for the second time in a row composted all kitchen and restaurant waste produced at the Pohoda music festival, and for the first time collected and composted organic waste directly at the place of origin, at Bratislava’s market called Dobrý trh in Panenská street. I would also like to mention a successful introduction of composting at the Ministry of Environment, which thus became a positive example for the others, and our membership in the Slovak Green Building Council. We believe that our mutual cooperation will result in beautiful and meaningful waste reduction projects.