The predecessor (National Waste Management Agency Nonprofit Ltd hereinafter NWMA) of the National Waste Management Directorate of the National Inspectorate for Environment and Nature was established by the Law LXXXV of 2011 on Environmental Product Fee. NWMA until its cessation - 31st December 2014- managed and organized the waste management of those products fallen under product fee regulation as a sole intermediary.
Based on the Decree nr. 322/2014 (XII. 13) of the Government the activities of the NWMA have been taken over by the National Inspectorate for Environment and Nature since 1 January 2015.
So since then, these tasks are performed by the National Waste Management Directorate (hereinafter NWMD) established as a separate unit of the Inspectorate, managed by Lajos Búsi as the appointed Deputy Director General.
The National Waste Management Directorate (NWMD, in Hungarian: Nemzeti Hulladékgazdálkodási Igazgatóság.) is that public coordinating body whose main obligation is to ensure transparent, predictable, traceable and accountable waste management system in Hungary. The frames of its activities are determined by legislations covering the management of collection, treatment and recycling of municipal solid waste, industrial and commercial waste generated from products under product fee obligation.
- Within the National Inspectorate for Environment and Nature the task of the NWMD is - according to the legislation in force - to pursue to promote the long term predictable, continuous and effective waste management in Hungary providing transparency and same participation conditions for the stakeholders and it enforces its obligations to control and to ask for accountability.
- It aggregates the main data and indicators on the Hungarian waste management market and provides data supply towards the European Union.
- This objective is realised through the National Waste Management Navigation System (HUNOR) implemented with the financial support of the European Union, with the help of which the OKTF NHI is able to collect and validate data of the contracted business companies referring to their waste treatment activities, it could track the deliverables and with these activities it controls the legal and effective usage of the provided co-financing.
- The National Collection and Recovery Plan contains the rate and amount of collection and recycling of the waste streams of products under the Law on Product Fee. Following this plan not only the current national and European requirements are met, but also the business planning of the sector’s companies is easier, more attainable and possible to track.
- It supports the development of the Hungarian waste management sector by a state fund. The concept behind the supporting plan follows that practice which has been already successfully introduced in developed countries according to which the future of the sector relies on sustainable resource management and eco-innovation. The core idea of this is to implement the following principle in all approaches and in everyday life: waste is a value, which should be recovered in an increasing quantity through material recycling.
- As prescribed in the legislation, it continuously provides information on the Hungarian waste management system in order to achieve positive changes in the attitude of the people and the companies operating in this sector. Within the framework of this activity on one hand it raises the attention on the importance of waste prevention; on the other hand it encourages the significant increase of the collection and recycling rate of waste generating from products fallen under the Law on Product Fee contributing to job creation as well. In order to achieve this, in cooperation with the local actors of the sector it strives to make a wider range of the population aware of the importance of selective waste collection.
- The international recognition and reputation of NWMD is increasing continuously. In order to support this, its representatives – as Gold member of the International Solid Waste Association (hereinafter referred as ISWA) - participate actively in international conferences and present the results and efforts of the Hungarian national waste management sector. From spring 2014 - pursuant to the resolution of the General Assembly - the person delegated by the Director of NWMD became one of the Vice-Presidents of the Hungarian section of ISWA. Besides this, NWMD has joined the major European environmental programs; it has been the national Hungarian co-ordinator of the European Week for Waste Reduction (hereinafter referred as EWWR) for the fourth year. Representing Hungary it is one of the five coordinating partners who set the plan, strategy and methodology of EWWR at European level.
