Effectiveness of Municipal Waste Collection and Management Policy in Lithuania

This article addresses the scientific gap relating to the limited representation of municipal waste policies in quantitative assessments, as well as their goal to “catch up” economies in the context of SDG 12. The novelty of the paper is defined by the guidelines developed for the consistent logical research of the effectiveness of municipal waste collection and management policies. Herein, a Lithuanian case is considered, with the period of analysis ranging from 2012 to 2023. A review of the scientific literature, an analysis of waste policy, and statistical data analysis methods were applied. The statistical data analysis showed that, while waste generation was historically increasing in parallel with the growth in national income and was therefore inconsistent with the long-term goal to reduce waste, municipal waste, which remains present in a significant amount and makes up one-fifth of the waste structure, is decreasing by 2.0% a year, which is conducive to achieving the goal. An analysis of the municipal waste treatment structure revealed that the priority order of waste management is maintained, as ready-to-reuse and recycling are dominant (accounting for half of all municipal waste management activities), followed by incineration, which accounts for a third of all municipal waste management activities. The requirement to reduce municipal waste disposal in landfills is being successfully implemented. From 2012 to 2023, the proportion of municipal waste disposal in landfills significantly decreased, and it presently accounts for 8.0%, while the target value is 5% by 2030. Difficulties arise in implementing requirements to sort municipal waste and increase the share of ready-to-reuse and recycled waste. In 2023, 66% of municipal waste was mixed, and the share of sorted municipal waste is slowly increasing. A decrease in recycled and ready-to-reuse municipal waste has been observed since 2017. Food waste is a particular issue. A total of 100.9 kilotons of food was wasted in 2023; however, this value is 12.3% less than that of 2020. Other indicators are also analyzed in this article. The results show changes in unsustainable consumption habits and a shift towards responsible consumption in relation to the implemented municipal waste collection and management policy. In the future, it will be necessary to conduct research into the problems that are identified in this article in order to propose scientifically sound and responsible consumption solutions in the areas responding to SDG 12; this will increase the effectiveness of municipal waste collection and management policies.