Garbage Or Oil?
Polish Government Taxes Renewable Energy Companies Out Of Business
Warsaw, Poland - 25 March, 2008 Poland's government is taxing into bankruptcy twenty four Polish companies that are using a new process that turns plastic bags into a liquid that can be refined just like oil. Only a last minute intervention by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister can save the companies and the technology.
Two years ago Polish engineers developed a catalytic cracking process that has received a lot of attention. The inventors received the prestigious "Environmental Invention For Europe" award and investors started up cracking plants around Poland.
Twenty four companies in Poland invested the required 3 million zloty per reactor that is necessary to convert the garbage bags to a refinable product. Their combined capacity is such that they can turn 50,000 tons of discarded plastic bags, or about 10% of Poland annual use, into a renewable energy source.
But the process is expensive and the companies depended on a waiver of the full excise tax in order to survive.
They were doing well until last year when the Ministry of Finance changed the excise tax rules and the companies began losing money.
They appealed to the Ministry of Finance and were referred to the Ministry of Environmental Protection with the advice that they should apply for subsidies.
They did not get those subsidies and they wrote the then Prime Minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski They got no response from Kaczynski.
While they were in the appeal process, the companies continued to lose money and are now ready to file bankruptcy. In the process they will put some 700 people on the unemployment rolls.
They have one last chance and that is to have their appeal to the current Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak approved. They hope to be put on the list of renewable energy resources. Pawlak has said that he would look at their situation and reply in no less than a few weeks.
Deputy Prime Minister Pawlak has to choose between reduced excise taxes and adding 700 people to the unemployment rolls plus adding more plastic bags to the landfills plus increased oil imports.
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