The Minister of the Environment Jaanus Tamkivi replied to the interpellation concerning waste carriage in Elva city (No 409), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Marika Tuus, Valeri Korb and Nikolai Põdramägi on 23 March.

 

Tamkivi discussed the issues relating to waste carriage in a wider context. He stressed that the objective of the organised municipal waste carriage is to bind all owners of registered immovables with the waste carriage service which ensures the situation where both discarding of waste and burning thereof at home becomes pointless, in fact, because people are bound with the waste carriage service anyway. “All this will have to give us a cleaner environment as a final result, so this means that subscribing to the waste carriage service is a common interest of all of us,” said the Minister of the Environment. He added that the organised waste carriage had by no means been provided in the Act to annoy people and that so far it has been the only principle which has proved successful in managing illegal waste handling in most of the European countries, on the basis of the practice of several decades.

 

Municipal waste carriage is organised by local governments who know the circumstances better and know how to act in their own administrative territory. In the organised waste carriage, the prices of the service offered, more specifically, the relations between the prices of emptying the special containers, depend on the pricing model and service packages determined by the local government. In view of the internal costs of the waste handling system, it is always more economical to service big containers at large buildings than to collect small containers, plastic bags and the like in areas of small residential buildings which means remarkably longer distances and is more time-consuming.

 

When discussing the problems relating specifically to Elva city, Tamkivi said that the obligation of organised waste carriage had not entered into force in Elva until as of 1 March this year, that is, five years later than provided by the Waste Act. The reason had been both contestation of the earlier procurement in the court and certainly the belated notice of the current procurement. “Obviously, it is expedient for Elva city government to thoroughly analyse the current organisation of waste carriage and to find the most suitable solutions in cooperation with its residents if dissatisfaction is great,” advised the Minister. Creation of a functioning cooperation structure for performing the functions organised by waste handling should certainly be seriously considered, like, for example, there is a non-profit association the Central Estonia Waste Management Centre in which 27 local governments have found the opportunity to manage waste carriage and to organise it better precisely through cooperation.

 

The Minister of Agriculture Helir-Valdor Seeder replied to the interpellation concerning bee-keeping (No 417), submitted by Member of the Riigikogu Jaan Kundla on 23 March.

 

The Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo replied to three interpellations:

 

the interpellation concerning the real estate transactions of the Ministry of Defence (No 397), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Kalle Laanet, Tiit Kuusmik, Lembit Kaljuvee, Enn Eesmaa, Toivo Tootsen, Ain Seppik, Vladimir Velman, Jüri Ratas, Lauri Laasi, Evelyn Sepp, Kadri Simson, Aivar Riisalu, Valeri Korb, Kalev Kallo, Jaak Aab and Nikolai Põdramägi on 9 March;

 

the interpellation concerning the document management system of the Ministry of Defence (No 403), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Hannes Rumm, Kalev Kotkas and Kalvi Kõva on 11 March;

 

the interpellation concerning the scheming with wages in the Ministry of Defence (No 422), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Lauri Laasi, Valeri Korb, Evelyn Sepp, Mailis Reps, Tiit Kuusmik and Eldar Efendijev on 24 March.

 

The Minister of Social Affairs Hanno Pevkur replied to five interpellations. They were the following:

 

the interpellation concerning the public procurements of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (No 402), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Lauri Laasi, Helle Kalda, Inara Luigas and Toomas Varek on 11 March;

 

the interpellation concerning the problems relating to digital prescriptions (No 405), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Marika Tuus, Enn Eesmaa, Eldar Efendijev, Nelli Privalova, Vladimir Velman, Jaak Aab and Nikolai Põdramägi on 17 March;

 

the interpellation concerning the excessive consumption of alcohol in Estonia (No 415), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Marika Tuus, Evelyn Sepp, Vladimir Velman and Valeri Korb on 23 March;

 

the interpellation concerning payment of the unemployment insurance (No 418), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Georg Pelisaar, Tiit Kuusmik, Inara Luigas, Nikolai Põdramägi, Mailis Reps, Ester Tuiksoo, Mai Treial, Karel Rüütli and Marika Tuus on 23 March;

 

the interpellation concerning Chernobyl and Afghanistan veterans (No 423), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Rein Ratas, Evelyn Sepp, Lauri Laasi, Valeri Korb, Eldar Efendijev, Vladimir Velman, Tiit Kuusmik, Nelli Privalova and Ain Seppik on 24 March.

 

In connection with the complicated air traffic situation, the Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi had not yet returned from the official travel abroad. The Minister is going to reply to the interpellation concerning Estonia falling among the five last countries in the world (No 404), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Inara Luigas, Lauri Laasi, Kadri Simson, Valeri Korb, Tiit Kuusmik, Georg Pelisaar and Kalle Laanet on 11 March, at Monday’s sitting of the next working week.

 

The sitting ended at 7.05 p.m.

 

The Riigikogu Press Service