A reader, a resident of Bolesławiec, wrote to us. He went to the Selective Waste Collection Point on Saturday and was told by a PSZOK employee that he could not leave cardboard and plastic sheeting from his renovation at the facility free of charge. A few days later, he returned, found a different employee, and that employee accepted the cardboard and sheeting. Who decides what may and may not be left at the Point? The reader believes that the deciding voice belongs to: “the Bolesławiec jobsworth at the PSZOK gate.”

I wanted to raise the issue of the Bolesławiec PSZOK. I had sorted renovation waste: cardboard that had protected the floor and plastic sheeting. Naturally, it was not clean, but merely dusty. The Bolesławiec jobsworth at the PSZOK gate said he would accept neither the cardboard nor the sheeting, and that I should take it to the landfill in Trzebień. In Trzebień, it turned out that they do not accept waste from private individuals and sent me back to the PSZOK in Bolesławiec. So what are people supposed to do with waste that nobody wants to accept? If this is what waste management looks like, I am not surprised that rubbish ends up flying around the forests.

We asked Miejski Zakład Gospodarki Komunalnej about the matter. In its response, we received confirmation that plastic sheeting and cardboard should not have been accepted at the Point.

In response to an inquiry dated 21 March 2022 concerning the Selective Municipal Waste Collection Point in Bolesławiec, Miejski Zakład Gospodarki Komunalnej Spółka z o.o. w Bolesławcu informs us that the PSZOK on Staszica Street accepts free of charge only waste from Bolesławiec residents and waste that can be recycled or passed on for reuse. Contaminated plastic sheeting and post-renovation cardboard do not belong to these categories; they are classified as mixed post-renovation waste.

However, in response to the expectations of Bolesławiec residents, renovation and construction waste that does not qualify for free acceptance at the PSZOK will be accepted for a fee at the MZGK premises at 6 Staszica Street, based on an order submitted by the resident.

At the same time, we inform you that, in accordance with the applicable regulations, the Municipal Waste Disposal Plant in Trzebień accepts only waste from persons conducting business activity who are registered in BDO (the Database of Products and Packaging and Waste Management) and who have an agreement with ZUOK in Trzebień.

Izabela Członka, head of the Cleaning and Transport Plant

The reader did not give up. He did not intend to dump the waste in the forest, so he went to the Point again a few days later. This time, he successfully disposed of the waste:

It worked because I went a second time and there was a different person accepting the waste. Everything went normally (the waste was put – editor’s note) into the container with cardboard and plastic sheeting.

Does this mean that the person accepting residents who bring waste to the Point really decides what type of waste can be left there?