07.07.2009 - Almost 100 tons of waste collected from the state forest this year 07.07

This year, the State Forest Management Centre (RMK) has already cleaned up almost 100 tons of waste from the state forest. Mostly, this is domestic waste and construction waste, but there is also hazardous waste. In several forest segments cleaned up within the framework of the Teeme Ära 2008 (Let’s Do It) cleaning day organised last year, there are new waste piles already.

According to Tiit Timber, Member of Management Board of RMK, the most critical period with regard to the pollution of forests is in the spring when lots of people start visiting forests and cleaning or renovating households, during which the unnecessary things are just simply dumped in the forest. “Regardless of the efforts of many people made last year towards cleaning up Estonia, there are still people who do not care about the environment and the forest. We ask everyone who sees waste dumped in the forest to immediately notify of it to the telephone 1313 of the Environmental Inspectorate,” said Tiit Timberg.

According to laws, a land owner is obliged to eliminate a pollution when the polluter cannot be identified, which is why RMK is obliged to spend hundreds of thousands of kroons a year to manage waste pollution in the forests. To identify the polluters, RMK has turned to the Environmental Inspectorate as well and in a few cases, the polluters have been caught.

“For example, the Environmental Inspectorate found that the containers with dye solution, found in the state forest in Kiili rural municipality in the spring, came from a local company," said Tiit Timber, Member of Management Board of RMK, according to whom the guilty parties were punished with a fine of EEK 23 000, and RMK has also filed a claim to the company for the payment of the EEK 30 000 removal cost.

This year, RMK has removed more than 90 tons of waste from the state forest, which is about 5 railway carriages. Mostly, this is domestic and construction waste, but almost 1 ton of hazardous waste has also been removed. The statistics of waste collection in the state forest in the past three years: 590 tons (EEK 780 000) in 2006, 430 tons (EEK 730 000) in 2007, 1500 tons (MEEK 2.7) in 2008.

RMK uses various means for stopping the polluters. For example, the self-generated stopping place at Ääsmäe near the Tallinn-Haapsalu road has been blocked with a barrier and a sign prohibiting littering as it has been cleaned already twice this year. RMK considers planting new forest there next year.

RMK is a profit-making state agency established under the Forestry Act, aimed at sustainable and efficient management of the state forest. In addition to this, RMK creates possibilities for forest holidays and shapes nature awareness. RMK manages 38% of the Estonian forests.