The City of Tallinn has asked housing associations to report problems, so the waste carrier can be penalized, but in this case, in the Kristiine district, residents say they have already reported the problems.

The service provider, Eesti Keskkonnateenused, has a near monopoly in Tallinn. Only two other procurements were won by another provider, the city-owned Tallinn waste recycling center (Tallinna jäätmete taaskasutuskeskus).

Kai Realo, head of private sector firm Ragn Sells, a competitor to Eesti Keskkonnateenused, said problems often stem from municipalities awarding the tender to the lowest bidder, who fails to meet almost any of the requirements set out in that tender.

Given new equipment has to be purchased and taxes and payroll maintained, Realo was scratching her head over how cheaper bids can be made in the first place.

One way of doing it is that companies accept all generated waste, regardless of category, at the price of household waste. Waste stockpiling is another workaround.

In the Kristiine apartment case, the five cubic-meter refuse containers get emptied twice per week, at least in theory. Even so, they fill up quickly, and many residents simply dump garbage next to the containers if this cannot fit in.

"I moved here in the summer. Moments when none of these containers is overflowing are rare. Sometimes household waste is full, sometimes paper, sometimes bio-waste; it is only glass that I haven't yet seen completely full," journalist and Kristiine resident Krister Paris told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

"When those big bags were here earlier, I was just talking to a neighbor yesterday who said he literally had to make his way with his hands and feet to get a little closer to the trash container," Paris added.

According to Paris, Eesti Keskkonnateenused has informed the housing association that, for technical reasons, waste collection is not possible at a set time. However, no replacement collection is offered a few days later either, exacerbating the problem.

Eesti Keskkonnateenused stated that one collection was canceled on New Year's Day, due to an employee falling ill. It added that over the past half-year, emptying has been postponed on three occasions.

At least some of these times, containers were left unemptied because they were blocked by parked cars. "They take a photo of the container with waste around it, but the photo doesn't show the cars parked in front of the building that block access, nor is it clear whether this building perhaps needs additional waste collection," said Oksana Romanova, transport manager at Eesti Keskkonnateenused.

Waste collector: Parked cars blocking access to bins

Under the procurement rules, a truck emptying bins in the Haabersti district, for instance, is not allowed to collect waste from neighboring Kristiine. Nor are waste collectors permitted to remove trash left next to containers if it has not been separately ordered.

"This is an additional service, it costs money, and if it hasn't been agreed with the client that they are willing to pay for it, then we are not allowed to remove that waste ourselves," Romanova went on.

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Kristjan Järvan (Isamaa) said the city is not aware of the trash problem, as housing associations have not been reporting them. If a contract is not fulfilled, the city must first issue a notice to the waste carrier.
Only then can fines be imposed if this is ignored. "A note is made in the public procurement register that this is a problematic provider. Then the right arises to exclude the provider from future procurements," Järvan added.