Neighbouring with two environmentally valuable areas (a national park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve), the “Bogdanka” mine produces approx. 5 million tonnes of extractive waste annually, some of which is disposed of under strict environmental control, while from 2 to 3 million tonnes are used to fill sand pits, according to some rather general environmental regulations.
As part of the project, the reuse of excavation waste in the open environment has been thoroughly analysed for the first time, and in particular, the processes of issuing and implementing administrative decisions. Findings from the analysis as well as the monitoring of numerous alarming practices (the use of land rehabilitation to secretly dispose of household and industrial waste; gaps in decisions, low effectiveness of land rehabilitation which led to formation of useless wastelands) were submitted to all institutions contributing to the decision-making process, made public and put under discussion.
Approx. 1,000 documents relevant to this practice were obtained from county authorities. Teamed up with on-site observations more than 50 quarry excavation became the cornerstone of the report and recommendations. The research report with several specialist studies, has been entitled “01 04 12 Rehabilitation of pits using waste from the extraction of coal in the Lubelskie voivodship.” These issues became the subject of a heated discussion during a seminar in Lublin on the 23rd of October, 2015. The report and related documentation are available at skalaplonna.ekolublin.pl. The addressees and beneficiaries were the employees of 13 county authorities from the province, mining and environmental protection authorities (Regional Directorates for Environmental Protection, Provincial Inspectorates for Environmental Protection), municipalities and local NGOs and academics. The project was implemented together with the Frank Bold legal foundation, which supported activities with consultations and papers on legal matters.