The “Heat wisely” campaign has been launched again this year to draw attention to the hazards of using solid fuels; the ban on, and detrimental effects of waste-burning by residents, and for making available all sorts of information on the right heating techniques, the Secretary of State for Environmental Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture (MA) said.
András Rácz pointed out that it has been shown that air quality deteriorates with the start of the heating season, especially in areas where the population frequently uses wood and coal and sometimes waste for heating purposes. Using inadequate materials is concurrent with the emission of significant quantities of small particles (PM10, PM2.5). (PM10 is the name of particulate matter of a diameter of less than 10 micrometer ; PM2,5 refers to those smaller than 2.5 micrometer. The smaller the particles, the more dangerous they are to health.) He noted that according to a representative public opinion poll conducted in February this year, people consider air pollution the main environmental problem. However, they do not feel their own responsibility in that: two-thirds of respondents indicated the industry as the source of pollution.
The situation, however, is the inverse: 80 percent of PM particle pollution in the air is due to residential heating. Industry contributes 5 percent, since industrial facilities use strictly regulated technology and filtering equipment approved by the environmental authority, he underlined. The poll has also shown that, based on self-declaration, 14 percent of respondents heat with waste, even though this is prohibited by law. Garden waste, litter, must not be burned in heating devices either.
More than 90 percent of respondents deemed it useful and important that the government addresses the problem of heating and fire-making and informs the population of the correct mode of heating by various awareness-raising campaigns. Those who are interested may download useful information from the www.futsokosankampany.hu website, he added. The Secretary of State underlined that burning treated wood is especially hazardous. He proposed that residents should heat with dry wood and not use wet wood that is also a rather expensive solution. Heating with dry wood implies 20-30 percent heating cost savings. Kornélia Radics, Chair of the National Meteorological Service (OMSZ) said OMSZ is conducting measurement under the “Heat wisely!” campaign and prepares various analyses on that basis. According to their measurements, the annual average PM10 particle quantity has diminished significantly in recent years, meaning that air in Hungary is getting purer and purer. The quantity of both PM10 and PM2.5 particles is substantially affected by weather conditions: between 12 and 20 October, the PM10 value exceeded that health limit at almost every measuring point in the country, due to the wind- and rain free weather.