The proposed incinerator near Hontianske Tesáre in southern Slovakia. (source: Granya)
In a region renowned for its healing spring waters, a different kind of heat has been rising among locals in recent months.
Plans for a €120 million waste-to-energy facility in Hontianske Tesáre have left residents in the nearby southern Slovak spa town of Dudince fuming.
Critics have slammed proposals for an incinerator, saying it threatens the very resource that defines the region: its mineral springs.
“The idea of building a waste incinerator next to the medicinal water source of the Dudince spa is absolutely monstrous,” said Michal Sabo, an MP for Progressive Slovakia, during a February press briefing.
He linked the proposal’s timing to recent amendments to Slovakia’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act, which he said “significantly curtailed the ability of residents to comment on projects that could negatively affect their quality of life”.
Sabo added that the facility contradicts modern waste management principles, which should focus on sorting and recycling, not burning, materials that are still usable.
The Environment Ministry rejected Sabo’s claims, accusing him of incompetence and spreading misinformation. It said the EIA process for the plant is still in its early stages and permission to proceed with construction has not been granted.
