Waste Management in Hungary

I suppose living in the countryside might be different then living in the cities.

We in the city have colored plastic barrels for plastic, cans, paper and metal.

I know the price for pick up is included in our common costs They take out hundreds thousands  of forints each month from the house, it is the most expensive part of the common costs, trash removal.

Someone is making money on recycling but we are paying for it. In the past we took in some old aluminum kitchen wear and a few other copper items and got a bit of money for them.

These few recycling centers inside the city are no longer operating

Since they brought in the recycling barrels into the house, these centers have closed down.

We pay to get things recycled but no financial gain for those who take the time to sort the trash before tossing things out.

Someone is always finding a way to make people pay and they profit. Sort of takes the incentive away to sort bottles etc. and pay to have it taken away on top of that.

Still notice people here and there going through trash to find cans... Not sure where they take them.

We used to take back wine bottles but even the stores do not really have a handy way of recycling them now. I do not notice any recycling machines these days.

Now once or twice per year the city has a big toss out day.

Anything thrown on the sidewalks for take away belongs to the city and no one can take anything.

Still you often see people sitting and watching a pile of junk , waiting for a truck of their own to collect everything for resale.

They can be fined though since it does not belong to them but the city.

In the countryside I would guess some people must take their own trash to the dump yard.

We used to do that in Hilo since we lived so far up country from downtown Hilo.

My friend in Hilo and her husband started their own small trash dumping service.

I would think it might be possible to start such a small business here too if there was a trash pick up need.

@Cheryl

Good afternoon, All.  Another great topic, Cheryl.  This too has been a painful learning experience too over the past year and a half, especially in the village of 2300 people where I reside. 

Please keep mind that every municipality albeit a village or a city is different.  In our village, trash pick-up and recycling is privatized.  Households contract with the vendor when you rent or buy a home and at that time you can pick and choose the size of your waste receptacles.  Bigger bins equal bigger costs that is billed quarterly to your household. You can purchase the bins through the vendor (which has changed twice in the 1-1/2 years since I moved here) at a discounted rate or you can buy bins at OBI, Praktiker, or a "gazdasagi bolt" in your community. 

I must say that the trash pick-up is quite sophisticated in cities versus our village.  Some cities have different colors for the type of waste i.e. tin, paper, trash, glass, yard waste and hazard household waste, which is picked up on different days and/or times of the year.  In the past and currently, vendors have sent out their yearly calendars or you can also download/print it off their website.  The larger grocery stores i.e. Tesco, Auchan have multi-size colored bags for the type of waste you're dumping if you want to avoid buying bins, but I've learned through trial and error that if the trash isn't in a bin, it will NOT be picked up. 

Composting in our village is done almost by everyone here who gardens.  Some people have made their own composting bin like us while others have multiple closed plastic bins around their properties year around.  I am not an expert in the subject but my son is a homesteader at heart and has directed me to many awesome homesteaders on YouTube; check them out.

Sorry for another lengthy response but there's always a back story to a common task and assimilating to a new life, anywhere.

Happy composting all! Loretta