In Poland, the capacity for thermal waste recycling will increase significantly this year.
Key Takeaways
- Poland will see a significant increase in thermal waste recycling capacity with new plants in Olsztyn, Gdansk, and Warsaw.
- The Olsztyn plant, operational since January 15, 2025, processes 100,000 tons of waste yearly, meeting 35% of the city’s heating needs.
- Currently, Poland has ten operational thermal treatment plants, with the newest ones in Gdansk and an expansion in Warsaw.
- The Gdansk plant, Port Czystej Energii, will open in early 2025, processing 160,000 tons of waste and producing considerable energy output.
- The Warsaw ZUSOK plant expansion aims to be the largest in Poland, capable of processing around 300,000 tons of waste annually.
The Polish plant operators’ association SPEO announced that a plant in Olsztyn has already been put into operation. This occurred on January 15, 2025. Further plants in Gdansk and Warsaw are to be opened in the current year.
With these new plants, the total number of thermal treatment plants in Poland will rise to eleven. All plants are members of SPEO.
Development of waste to energy in Poland
The first waste-to-energy plant in Poland opened in Warsaw in 2001. It had an annual capacity of just 40,000 tons of waste. In the following years, between 2015 and 2017, new sites were established in six cities: Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Konin, Kraków, Poznań and Szczecin.
Further plants were opened in Rzeszów in 2017 and in Zabrze in 2018. The plant in Zabrze also uses coal in addition to substitute fuels. No new plants have been opened in Poland since then.
Details of the plant in Olsztyn
The Olsztyn plant was built as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) between Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej in Olsztyn and Dobra Energia dla Olsztyna. The annual capacity of the Olsztyn plant is 100,000 tons of waste, which covers 35 percent of the city’s heating needs. The annual production of electricity amounts to 64,000 MWh.
Planned opening of plants in Gdansk and Warsaw
In Gdansk, the Port Czystej Energii is expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2025. Construction work began in July 2020, and the groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 18 of the same year. The plant has a capacity of 160,000 tons of waste per year and will produce 114,000 MWh of electricity and 509,000 GJ of heat.
In Warsaw, the ZUSOK plant is being expanded to become Poland’s largest thermal waste treatment plant, with a capacity to process around 300,000 tons of waste per year. According to SPEO, extensive tests are currently being carried out that will be crucial for the plant’s subsequent operation. By the end of 2024, over 6,000 tons of waste had been thermally treated.
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