As a simple citizen, Petra Mayr from Oberschleißheim wrote to the district councilors and yet she received an immediate reply from several. This shows that the chemist and biotechnologist has hit a sore spot with her criticism of the plans of the district of Munich to build a new organic waste fermentation plant for an estimated 50 million euros. District councilors from several parliamentary groups maintain that it is not worth renovating the previously closed organic waste fermentation plant in Kirchstockach. But it becomes clear that it might not have gotten to this point in the first place.
Because of contractual and business secrets, the topic had not been discussed publicly for a long time. In November, the environmental committee of the district council then decided to examine suitable plots of land for a new plant and to commission a feasibility study for a new plant “promptly”. It should also include the subsequent use of the current property – the long-term lease ends in 2035 – and “possibilities of sustainable energy production should be taken into account”. The committee also decided “not to invest in the restart of the current plant at this time”. It has been standing still since the end of 2021 and has been examined with regard to its condition and the necessary investments and opportunities. The previous wet fermentation process is no longer up to date, the throughput is too low and high immission control measures would have to be taken so that it could be operated again in the upgraded water protection area. All this led the committee members to the unanimous decision.
Petra Mayr still finds this wrong, especially since, according to the district office, it is “an economic decision”. In view of the efforts to save energy and protect the climate, the woman from Oberschleißheim believes that “the need of the hour is to modernize the existing system while retaining parts that can still be used”. According to the draft resolution of the district office for the environmental committee, this would cost 13 to 20 million euros. Because refurbishment would be faster than a new building, Mayer says that the costs of five million euros a year for the removal of the organic waste generated in the district would not have to be paid for so long. Diesel trucks are currently driving the 32,700 tons of waste to the districts of Erding, Kelheim and Miesbach, among others. This has been agreed until the end of 2026 with a three-year extension option. Last but not least, the district would sooner be able to generate electricity itself from the organic waste, use the waste heat and would therefore burden the citizens less with proportionate costs for transport and disposal via the waste fee.
The mayor of Brunnthal and CSU district councilor Stefan Kern replied to Mayr that the district councilors had discussed their arguments in detail and emphasized: “Both short transport routes and complete environmentally friendly recycling of the waste was always a major concern across all parliamentary groups.” The CSU district councilor Kerstin Schreyer, who is also chairwoman of the economic and energy committee of the state parliament, wrote to her: “Since there is currently no operator for the existing plant and we would have to build a second plant in the future in the event of a renovation in order to collect the organic waste in the To be able to use the district, the renovation – also financially – is not an option, which is why I fully support the decisions.” However, Schreyer is estimating the 30 to 50 million euros for the construction of a second, additional system, which a new replacement system should cost without the land to be found. Leasehold is currently the biggest cost factor at the transfer station.
“It’s no different for me as a citizen and district councilor.”
FDP district councilor Manfred Riederle, who has long advocated informing the public, “can really understand the anger of the citizens,” as he says: “As a citizen and district councilor, it’s no different for me.” The plant, which has since been shut down, was a showcase project when it was built 25 years ago. “If they had kept them up to date, if everything had gone optimally, they could continue to be operated today for economic reasons. But apparently things didn’t go so optimally,” he says. He does not want to give details.
Mayr also raises the question of whether the district council should not have been informed earlier about the desolate developments of the plant. SPD district councilor Ingrid Lenz-Aktas, who knows the entire history of the Kirchstockach facility, denies this. She feels “sufficiently informed because I asked the district office if I did not have enough documents”. For years, the environment committee had been considering whether and which investments in the plant would still be worthwhile or whether they should be stopped. But the fact that the district has to dispose of organic waste is always “hanging over everything like the sword of Damocles”. For Lenz-Aktas, the environmental committee’s decision is correct: “Economic decision means: also intended for the citizen. We need the feasibility study quickly. I think it will show several possibilities.” Apparently the last word has not yet been spoken.