The research issues discussed in the paper concentrate on the participation of the municipal services sector in shaping local development in the commune. The aim of the study is to verify the actual level of involvement of this sector in the development process of the commune, and the thesis is: “The activities of the municipal services sector are one of the factors shaping local development in the commune.” The basic research method is a critical review of domestic and foreign literature and participant observation.

Composts made of municipal solid waste could be widely used in reclamation of soil-less mechanically transformed grounds. Even though its usefulness, bearing in mind its origin, it is necessary to consider the compost composition in order to avoid posing a threat to environment due to the possible emission of toxic substances which could be present in compost. Especially, organic waste should be monitored, because being present in composts it might be leached and pose a risk to groundwater and plants. In this work the leaching tests were carried out to state the solubility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water. The both tests results show low solubility of PAHs, max. 10.4% in lysimetrie test and 3.9% in one-step leaching test.

In this article the author attempts to define the specificity of the tools for development planning at the local level in the context of: institutional resources of community (gmina) (and means of strengthening them), models of public management as well as the specifics of the Polish public administration system and its ensuing dysfunctions. These dysfunctions rely mainly on a limited awareness of the need to create mechanisms of coordination for: socio-economics, spatial and financial planning. These factors contribute to a decrease in the effectiveness of measures for the development of communities. Socio-economic planning answers the question: WHAT we want to do in the community; spatial planning: WHERE we would like to carry out certain activities, and financial planning: HOW MUCH it will cost and where the financial sources are. We can see the theoretical causal links between the areas of development planning, therefore, the main purpose of this article is to offer conceptual framework and a relevant case study of Kraków serving as its validation attempt.

There is a very high interest in international literature about the governance of common goods related to a redefinition of representative democracy. Scholars like Sheila Foster and Christian Iaione have proposed new models of governance enhancing the preservation and management of the commons in order to overcome problems and contradictions of complex contemporary cities, such as social exclusion and land privatisation. The aim of this paper is to verify, through a recognition of administrative documents, if in the example of Rome, the political actors, the municipal government, and the civil society, could be able to take part in a collaborative governance inspired reform. To answer this question, the relationship between the policy making process, the economic production model and the normative claims arising from social groups will be investigated. What is emerging is a difficulty of the administration in implementing collaborative principles. This is reflected in the issuance of discordant administrative measures, stemming from problems in relaying to civil society and active citizens the role that these principles assign. The reasons for this mismatching might be identified in the distinctive urban regime of Rome and the political and economic set that fosters social exclusion and does not consider the positive effects and the value of collaborative-oriented policy, enhancing sharing economy and social cohesion. The constant recall in the political discourse of concepts such as common goods, citizen’s participation and collaboration values takes the characteristics of a discursive resource, a ‘common washing’, which institutions and politics seem to re-propose and consolidate the traditional mode of public action, though apparently declaring its inadequacy and ineffectiveness.

The EU member states have implemented excise duties on fuel and electricity according to the EU Energy Tax Directive. The purpose of these measures is to motivate a reduction in energy consumption by internalizing external costs of energy. The taxes on energy have success in inciting energy savings. Simultaneously, the price levels of energy in the EU member states have increased to levels significantly higher compared to other countries in the region and the world. The price increase is the result of a cumulative effect of excise duties and other taxes and mechanisms including feed-in tariffs and quota policies. While the Energy Tax Directive gives the member states a level of freedom in setting the exact duty rates, the minimal rates enforced on all member states are relatively high. The policy intends to limit competition between the states on low energy prices and arbitrage trading between countries. We examine the purchasing power for energy products relative to the per capita GDP for a wide set of countries countries within the EU and in the rest of the world. We can identify several groups or clusters of countries based on their GDP per capita and energy prices. The new member states of the EU face a unique combination of low or moderate GDP per capita and very high energy prices. Their relative purchasing power for energy is degraded to levels comparable or lower than the purchasing power in developing countries with significantly lower GDP per capita and underdeveloped energy infrastructure. The calibration of energy taxation in the EU at high price levels suitable for Western European economies with high per capita GDP is leading to strong negative social effects and increasing poverty in Eastern European member states. The current implementation of these policies does not recognize to a sufficient extent income levels, regional social inequalities, and the low price elasticity of demand for energy.

This publication presents an assessment of the economic efficiency of a hypothetical installation for the gasification of the municipal and industrial waste for the production of syngas used subsequently for the production of energy or chemical products. The first part of the work presents an example of a technological system for the energo-chemical processing of coal mud and municipal waste, based on the gasification process using a fluidized bed reactor. A hypothetical installation consists of two main blocks: a fuel preparation unit and a gasification unit. In the fuel preparation installation, reception operations take place, storage, and then grinding, mixing, drying and transporting fuel to the gasification unit. In the gasification installation, fuel gasification, oxygen production, cooling and purification of raw process gas and ash treatment are carried out. The following key assumptions regarding the gasification process, as well as the capital expenditures and operating costs related to the process, were estimated. Consequently, based on the method of discounted cash flows, the unit cost of generating energy contained in the synthesis gas (cost of energy, COE) was determined and the results were interpreted. In order to obtain an acceptable efficiency of the gasification process for waste fuels for the production of alternative fuel (process gas), it is necessary to supplement the mixture of waste coal and coal mud with the RDF. In this case, the unit cost of fuel measured by the PLN/GJ index is lower than in the case of hard coal and comparable with brown coal. The use of coal mud for the production of process gas in an economically efficient way is possible only in the case of changes in the legal system allowing for charging fees for the utilization of industrial waste – coal mud.

The development of electromobility is a challenge for the power system in both technical and economic-market terms. As of today, there are no analyses to determine the power necessary to supply the planned infrastructure and to estimate the incentives and economic benefits resulting from the modification of the settlement method. The document determining the legal regulations and the obligation to build vehicle charging stations for specific municipalities is the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels. This act estimates that the development of electromobility, due to the specifics including not only individual vehicles, will take place in certain areas. The places which in the first stage will be dedicated to the potential implementation of the concept of electromobility will be municipalities covering large agglomerations. In addition, due to the local aspect, the development of electromobility may take place in the areas of energy clusters’ initiatives, which, using the policy of increasing energy awareness, are aimed at energy production from local renewable energy resources. The planned development of electromobility assumes a systematic increase in the number of electric cars caused by the introduction of support systems. The dynamization of this sector will cause an increase in the demand for electricity. Due to power system reasons, an important factor determining the level of energy consumption depending on the time of day may be an appropriate shape of the pricing for the charging service. Appropriate price list stimulation can affect the behavior of recipients, causing the charging of cars in the off-peak of electricity demand. The aim of the article is to characterize the scale of the phenomenon of electromobility in the context of the emergence of a charging points infrastructure along with the possibility of price-setting stimulation affecting the profile of energy demand. It is also important to consider the challenges and responsibilities of municipalities and energy clusters from the perspective of introducing electromobility.

Municipal waste management has been an area of special interest of the European Commission (EC) for many years. In 2018, the EC pointed out issues related to municipal waste management as an important element of the monitoring framework for the transition towards a circular economy (CE), which is currently a priority in the economic policy of the European Union (EU). In the presented monitoring framework, 10 CE indicators were identified, among which issues related to municipal waste appear directly in two areas of the CE – in the field of production and in the field of waste management, and indirectly – un two other areas – secondary raw materials, and competitiveness and innovation. The paper presents changes in the management of municipal waste in Poland in the context of the implementation of the CE assumptions, a discussion of the results of CE indicators in two areas of the CE monitoring framework in Poland (production and waste management), and a comparison of the results against other European countries.

In Poland, tasks related to the implementation of municipal waste management from July 1, 2013 are the responsibility of the municipality, which is obliged to ensure the conditions for the system of selective collection and collection of municipal waste from residents, as well as the construction, maintenance and operation of regional municipal waste treatment installations (RIPOK). The municipality is also committed to the proper management of municipal waste, in accordance with the European waste management hierarchy, whose overriding objective is to prevent waste formation and limiting its amount, then recycling and other forms of disposal, incineration and safe storage. The study analyzed changes in the value of two selected CE indicators, i.e. (1) the municipal waste generation indicator, in the area of production and (2) the municipal waste recycling indicator, in the area of waste management. For this purpose, statistical data of the Central Statistical Office (GUS) and Eurostat were used. Data has been presented since 2014, i.e. from the moment of initiating the need to move to the CE in the EU. In recent years, there has been an increase in the amount of municipal waste generated in Poland as well as in the EU. According to Eurostat, the amount of municipal waste generated per one inhabitant of Poland increased from 272 kg in 2014 to 315 kg in 2017. It should be noted that the average amount of municipal waste generated in Poland in 2017 was one of the lowest in EU, with a European average of 486 kg/person. Poland has achieved lower levels of municipal waste recycling (33.9%) than the European average (46%). The reason for Poland’s worse results in the recycling of municipal waste may be, among others, the lack of sufficiently developed waste processing infrastructure, operating in other countries such as Germany and Denmark, and definitely higher public awareness of the issue of municipal waste in developed countries. Municipal waste management in Poland faces a number of challenges in the implementation of GOZ, primarily in terms of achieving the recycling values imposed by the EC, up to a minimum of 55% by 2025.

Rural areas have great potential, which properly supported can signifi cantly accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. However, the resources and values of individual areas are spatially diversifi ed, which means the diversity of development challenges and the necessity to diversify the instruments of local development policy as well as the territorialisation of development policy. The need to deal with development issues in connection with the development of urban functional areas and, more broadly, node regions, remains unchanged for all types of rural areas, which means the necessity of joint planning of spatial development, implementation of common development strategies of the entire functional area and pursuit of common socio-economic goals. The endogenous theory of local development remains valid, but it must be based on resources that go beyond the administrative boundaries of a single municipality. The need for network local development planning applies in particularly to peripheral rural areas, since rural municipalities often do not have sufficient economic potential to stay competitive even on a local scale. Only in partnership with other municipalities, within the framework of nodal regions, they can implement more eff ective competitive strategies. Another aspect of the network cooperation is the need to involve non-public entities into local economy. Establishing partnerships for the implementation of development goals may increase the chances of achieving a favourable competitive position and implementation of effective development strategies.

Based on laboratory tests of selected properties of secondary waste (ashes and dusts) from municipal waste incineration plants, the possibility of recovering some properties of waste in the process of filling the post-mining voids in the salt mine was assessed. The furnace bottom ash and the waste from the flue gas treatment from one of the national incineration plants were examined. The grain curves of dry waste and the density of the prepared mixtures were characterized. Twelve variants of the compositions of ash-based mixtures with varying proportions of the individual components were considered, taking into account both fresh water and brine. For each variant of the composition, the amount of redundant liquid appeared as well as the time of solidifying of the mixture to a certain strength and the compressibility values obtained. Considering the possibility of transporting mixtures in mines by means of pipelines at relatively long distances, and allowing the filling of large salt chambers to be filled and evenly filled, flow parameters were determined. In addition, the permeability of solidified waste samples was investigated, showing the potential for reducing the strength of the waste mass due to the action of water or brine. The technical feasibility of eliminating redundant liquid in the binding process has been confirmed, which is particularly important in salt mines. Preliminary values for the amount of binder (5%÷10%) to be added to the mixtures to obtain the specified strength properties of the artificially formed mass at Rc = 0.5 MPa. Attention was paid to the important practical aspect resulting from the rapid increase of this type of waste in the comming years in Poland and at the same time vast potential for their use in salt mining, where we have a huge capacity of salt chambers available.

The Cracow districts have the status of auxiliary self-governing units within this city and, generally should be communities of residents living in particular parts of the city, close to them, in which they implement their daily practices. In theer article, the authors, by examining the sense of belonging to the district, undertook to identify its perception by residents and relations between the residents and their auxiliary units, on the example of two such districts this of VIII Dębniki and X Swoszowice. Attitudes of their residents towards self-governing districts were identified on the basis of 1141 questionnaires, obtaining during surveys conducted in 2017. The authors have found relatively weak relations of residents with their auxiliary units, as evidenced by small involvement in initiatives taken for the benefit of this districts. The analysis, however, showed also considerable differences in the detailed assessment of the attitudes of residents at the level of their division according to their age groups, period of the residence, as well as to the type of housing a single-family, multi-family or mixed ones.

This paper includes a description of both the mode of development and the final structure and contents of the Municipal Revitalization Program, which was developed for the City of Starogard Gdański. All key parts of this program were described as well as methods used for planning the diverse activities associated with revitalization of the municipality. These were based on both actual legislation – of both national and regional importnace – as well as on Author’s own experience in this matter. In result, the article can serve as the example of one of the possible ways of developing the complex program of urban transformation for the medium-sized municipality.

Art. 52 sec. 1 of the Regeneration Act of 9 October 2015 allowed municipalities which, at the time of its entry into force, did not have a valid revitalization program, to carry out revitalization activities on the basis of a revitalization program other than the municipal revitalization program. The choice of procedure was left by the legislature of the municipality, assuming that at the initial stage of the implementation of the law, only the municipality should test its instrument, referring to the nature and scale of its needs. The ROP Managing Authority in Małopolska as the only one in the country introduced the requirement of developing municipal revitalization programs for all municipalities that did not have a current revitalization program at the time of the entry into force of the Act. Therefore, these municipalities, in order to benefi t from EU funding under ROP WM 2014-2020 for revitalization activities planned in the programs, were not able to rely on the derogation contained in art. 52 sec. 1 of the Act. Regardless of the size of the municipality and the nature of revitalization needs, they were compelled to develop a document complying with the statutory procedure, the fi rst stage being the delimitation of the degraded area and the revitalization area and confi rmation by the resolution of the municipality council. As a result Małopolskie Voivodeship has become Poland’s largest laboratory of methodology of delimitation of these areas and development of revitalization programs. The aim of the article is to present the diversity of applied methodological approaches to the delimitation of revitalization areas in Małopolskie Voivodeship and to describe the most noteworthy, as well as to indicate the most common errors in the designation of these areas.

Local development, based on the use of endogenous potentials, requires the cooperation of muni-cipalities in urban functional areas (agglomerations). However, conducting joint activities in the area of building and running local development policy is a serious challenge. On the one hand, there is a shortage of experience in this area (not counting the short period of functio-ning municipal unions in the years 1920-1939 and intentional inter-communal relations after 1990). In addition, there are still no legal solutions needed (in addition to the act passed in 2017 for the metropolis of Silesia and Zagłębie). In recent years, however, projects of integra-ted territorial investments and other project partnerships have been implemented under the European Union and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism Programs, which result in prac-tical conclusions and legislative recommendations. The most important of them concern the introduction of a new form of partner cooperation and the adoption of a new urban code. Their quick implementation will enable more eff ective cooperation for development.

The circular economy (CE) has been a European Union (EU) priority since 2014, when first official document on the CE was published. Currently, the EU is on the road to the transformation from a linear economy model to the CE model. In 2019, a new strategy was announced – the European Green Deal, the main goal of which is to mobilize the industrial sector for the CE implementation. The CE assumes that the generated waste should be treated as a secondary raw material. The paper presents an analysis of the possibility of using selected groups of waste for the production of fertilizers. Moreover, an identification of strengths and weaknesses, as well as market opportunities and threats related to the use of selected groups of waste as a valuable raw material for the production of fertilizers was conducted. The scope of the work includes characteristics of municipal waste (household waste, food waste, green waste, municipal sewage sludge, digestate), industrial waste (sewage sludge, ashes from biomass combustion, digestate) and agricultural waste (animal waste, plant waste), and a SWO T (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. The fertilizer use from waste is determined by the content of nutrients (phosphorus – P, nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, calcium ) and the presence of heavy metals unfavorable for plants (zinc, lead, mercury). Due to the possibility of contamination, including heavy metals, before introducing waste into the soil, it should be subjected to a detailed chemical analysis and treatment. The use of waste for the production of fertilizers allows for the reduction of the EU’s dependence on the import of nutrients from outside Europe, and is in line with the CE.

The objective of the project was to find out whether the composting process of municipal waste may be used as a low temperature heat source. It was determined that during high temperature phase of the process on average 930.5 kJ of heat is produced per kg of compost. The designed and made laboratory model was used for carrying out three stages of testing, boiling down to running the composting process with parallel heat recuperation from the process. Basing on the tests, the parameters having affecting the heat recuperation process effectiveness were determined, viz.: optimum initial temperature of cooling water should be approximately 30°C, the reduction of flow rate of the cooling water has advantageous impact on the increase of process efficiency, whereas the safe temperature lower limit for compost cooling should be higher than 52°C (which safeguards compost sanitary purity). It was also observed that in parallel to compost age heat recuperation process efficiency is declining.

The research covered two lakes: Karczemne and Domowe Małe, which served as receivers for rainwater and municipal or industrial sewage. The sediment cores were obtained using a Kajak tube sampler. Analyses of HM, PAH and PCB were done by the AAS, ICP-AES and GC MS methods. OM, SiO2, TH, Ca, Mg, CO2, Fe, Al, Mn, TN and TP were measured. The research showed that the sediments of Lake Karczemne, into which the untreated municipal sewage was discharged, are characterized by a high content of P. It was found that the sediments accumulate toxins, OM and pollutants characteristic for various industries. Karczemne Lake which collected municipal and industrial wastewater, contained a high content of Pb, Cu and PAH in the sediments, and Domowe Małe Lake, receiving stormwater, contained high concentrations of PAH. Research has shown that one of the most important tools for selecting an appropriate method of lake restoration is the analysis of the spatial distribution of pollutants in the bottom sediments. Thanks to such an analysis of the composition of the bottom sediments and the correlation between the components of the sediments and their sorption properties, the restoration of the Karczemne Lake using the Ripl method was planned and the possibility of restoration of the Domowe Małe Lake in this way was eliminated.

The introduction highlights the technologies of converting the chemical energy of biomass and municipal waste into various forms of final energy (electricity, heat, cooling, new fuels) as important in the pursuit of a low-carbon economy, especially for energy and transport sector. The work continues to focus mainly on gasification as a process of energy valorization of the initial form of biomass or waste, which does not imply that other methods of biomass energy use are not considered or used. Furthermore, the article presents a general technological flowchart of gasification with a gas purification process developed by Investeko S.A. in the framework of Lifecogeneration.pl. In addition, selected properties of the municipal waste residual fraction are described, which are of key importance when selecting the technology for its energy recovery. Significant quality parameters were identified, which have a significant impact on the production and quality of syngas, hydrogen production and electricity generation capacity in SOFC cells. On the basis of the research on the waste stream, a preliminary qualitative assessment was made in the context of the possibility of using the waste gasification technology, syngas production with a significant share of hydrogen and in combination with the technology of energy production in oxide-ceramic SOFC cells. The article presents configurations of energy systems with a fuel cell, with particular emphasis on oxide fuel cells and their integration with waste gasification process. An important part of the content of the article is also the environmental protection requirements for the proposed solution.

The accumulation and removal of the heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) by fibrous ion exchangers at different stages of a typical biological wastewater treatment system, have been studied. In particular, the chelating ion exchanger FIBAN X- I allows rapid and efficient sorption of the heavy metals from primary treated effluents. The degree of removal of Cu ion wa, about 17%; for both Cd and Pb the removal efficiency wa, >40%. Applied in batch process mode FIBAN X-1 should diminish the content of heavy metals in sewage and treated effluent.

This article examines the short- and long-run effects of water price, system input, income, temperature on domestic water demand for Amman area over the period of 1980–2012. An empirical, dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for water demand is developed on a yearly basis. This approach is capable of testing and analysing the dynamic relationship with time series data using a single equation regressions. Results show the ability of the model to predicting future trends (short- and long-run association). The main results indicate that water demand in limited water environment is partially captured in the long-run by the amount of water reaching the customer. The short- and long-run elasticities of water price (–0.061, –0.028) and high temperature (0.023, 0.054) indicate inelastic behaviour on water demand both in short- and long-run, while the lagged water price has a significant effect on demand. Income represented by gross domestic product (GDP) slightly affects water consumption in the long-run and insignificantly in the short-run (0.24, 0.24). Water consumption is strongly linked to consumption habits measured by lagged billed amount 0.35, and is strongly linked to amount of supplied water both in short- and long-run (0.47, 0.53). These results suggest that water needs should be satisfied first to allow controlling water demand through a good pricing system.
Moreover, the association identified between demand and water system input, and the lesser elasticities of water price and other explanatory variables confirm the condition of water deficit in Amman area and Jordan. The results could be rolled out to similar cities suffering scarce water resources with arid and semi-arid weather conditions.

Nowadays, in order to ensure high quality of municipal services, and thus a high quality of life for the local community, the authorities of both the basic local government unit and managers of municipal enterprises must strive to maintain high standards of sustainable development. The level of quality of life and services provided can be determined by various dimensions, such as: ecological environment, housing conditions, ecological production in the field of consumer goods, balance between built-up areas and green areas, care for agricultural areas, limiting the deepening social stratification, rational economy water or rational waste management. Therefore, the paper presents a theoretical analysis of the main directions of sustainable development in the activities of municipal enterprises.

In the article, a device for measuring the parameters of the rotational movement of the auger for dewatering solid waste is proposed based on the analysis of signal processing methods and measurement of physical quantities. It can be used in the development of high-performance special vehicles for transporting waste as the main link in the structure of machines for the collection and primary processing of solid waste. The structural scheme of the means and block diagram of the microcontroller control program algorithm for implementation of the device for measuring the parameters of the rotational motion are proposed. The main technical characteristics of the proposed means are given. The results of experimental tests for measuring the parameters of rotational motion are shown. The results of experimental studies, which are given in the work, confirmed the reliability of the measured parameters.

Cities seeking their individual development path use various development models. Urban development management through large urban projects is an expression of departure from the so-called global change regulated urbanism to urbanism through projects. This approach is also used by the city of Lodz, recovering, e.g. through large revitalization projects, its industrial heritage, but processed and adapted to the needs of current residents. The Horticultural EXPO 2024 exhibition (so-called Green EXPO) planned in Lodz belongs to the highest world-class exhibitions, i.e. class A1. The topics of this type of exhibition focus on various aspects related to, among others with greenery in cities, ecology, agriculture and gardening. It is another development opportunity for Lodz in accordance with a relatively new and innovative model – urban agriculture – in urban planning. The article presents the historical context of the organization of the exhibition, the results of research on the needs and expectations of the inhabitants of Lodz related to the planned exhibition, including the spatial aspect, the importance of the exhibition for the needs of shaping a healthy living environment.

This paper presents the results of modeling and analysis of hybrid generation system (HSW). The system contains municipal waste gasification installation, photovoltaic (PV) system and wind farm. The system cooperates with the power system to provide electrical energy to the communal consumer. The consumer is characterized by a maximum power demand equal to 10 MW and an annual energy demand of 42.351 GWh. Generation with renewable sources was modelled using meteorological data. Moreover, in order to cover the demand with the level of generation, gas storage was used. Next, the three-stage gasification model is presented. It was validated, using the literature data, and its efficiency and gas composition have been calculated and are presented. Furthermore, energetic and economic analysis have been conducted. Installed power usage factor and efficiency of energy sources were calculated. Gross and net energy generation of hybrid generation systems have been computed and are presented. In this analysis, energy consumption by gas compressing was included. The analyzed HSW covered 54.5% of the demand. Most of this (30.2%) was covered by the gasification system. However, the system was characterized by a low net efficiency equal to 16.7%. Diagrams of power generation in each source and storage fill chart are presented. In the economic part of the analysis, results of calculations of net present value and payback period are published in order to examine the profitability of the system.
The cost of electricity was 490–1050 PLN/MWh. The results show that municipal waste gasification can be used as a part of HSW to adjust the generation with the demand. Moreover, it can be economically advantageous. However, it is characterized by high CO ₂ emission and low efficiency of the waste processing system.