FKF Private Ltd.

FKF Private Ltd. (FKF) is the Budapest municipal organisation responsible for public cleaning and, historically, waste management in the Hungarian capital. Its roots go back to the Fővárosi Köztisztasági Hivatal (Metropolitan Public Cleaning Office), established in 1895 as the predecessor of today's FKF. Over more than a century it evolved through several names and organisational forms — Fővárosi Köztisztasági Vállalat (1949–1957), Fővárosi Közterület-fenntartó Vállalat (FKFV, from 1978), and Fővárosi Közterület-fenntartó Nonprofit Zrt. — before being integrated into the Budapesti Közművek group. The company's traditional scope covered street cleaning, waste collection and disposal, snow removal, road maintenance and related municipal services. It introduced early mechanised street-cleaning and refuse-collection vehicles, built Budapest's first waste incineration plant at Rákospalota (constructed in 1981, commissioned in May 1982), and later developed selective waste collection and the Pusztazámor Regional Waste Management Centre. In the 2000s it operated as a non-profit joint-stock company owned by the Municipality of Budapest. On 1 September 2021, following a German model, FKF Nonprofit Zrt. was merged with other Budapest municipal public-service companies (FŐTÁV, FŐKERT, BTI and FŐKÉTÜSZ) into a single municipal holding, Budapesti Közművek. Since then FKF has operated as the FKF Köztisztasági Divízió (Public Cleaning Division) of BKM Budapesti Közművek Nonprofit Zrt. From 1 April 2024, waste-management tasks in Budapest and its agglomeration were transferred to MOHU BUDAPEST Zrt., while the FKF Köztisztasági Divízió continues to perform public-area cleaning duties on behalf of the Municipality of Budapest. The brand therefore remains active as the capital's public-cleaning division, with its historical waste-management role now largely handled by MOHU.

The history of FKF begins with the Fővárosi Köztisztasági Hivatal (Metropolitan Public Cleaning Office), established in 1895 as the predecessor of today's organisation. Records of 17th- and 18th-century Pest and Buda council meetings already contained regulations requiring streets to be kept clean, and from the 1840s waste removal became regular. For a time, however, refuse hauling remained in private hands: between 1893 and 1906 the entrepreneur Lajos Cséry operated a site on the edge of Kispest, to which waste was collected by rail (the so-called 'waste railway'). In 1906 Cséry's company was bought out by the state, and from then on waste transport also fell within the remit of the Fővárosi Köztisztasági Hivatal. The Cséry site operated until 1960. In 1909 the first waste-collection containers were placed on the capital's public areas. From 1928, motorised snowploughs and watering vehicles were introduced alongside a switch from horse-drawn to motorised — so-called dust-free — waste collection, although the technology did not prove successful at first because of its rudimentary nature. The vehicles took their common Hungarian name 'kukásautó' from their manufacturer, Keller und Knappich Augsburg (K.U.K.A.). During the Second World War a significant part of the office's vehicles was destroyed. After the war the company restarted in 1945, and with partial replacement of horses and vehicles it managed within eight months to remove 9 million cubic metres of rubble and waste left by the war. Around this time, instead of long-distance transport, the so-called pit-filling method was introduced for lower-lying parts of the city and abandoned mines (for example the Lágymányos lake, the Újlaki brickworks on Bécsi Road, and the Bodza Street brickworks in Óhegy). Between 1949 and 1957 the company operated as Fővárosi Köztisztasági Vállalat. After the creation of Greater Budapest in 1952, the new peripheral districts were also included in the office's service area. In 1957 the waste railway was wound up and vehicles definitively took over transport. In 1978 the company's name changed to Fővárosi Közterület-fenntartó Vállalat (FKFV). Its activities at that time extended beyond waste management to the operation of the capital's road network: waste collection and incineration, public-area cleaning, snow removal, deep construction, road building and renovation, painting and maintenance of road markings, placement and management of road signs, maintenance of bridges and other structures, operation of bridge-master offices, and maintenance of underpasses and overpasses. Additional activities included horticulture, asphalt and concrete workshops, a repair workshop for waste containers, garages and technical stations, and the management of waste dumps. Budapest's first waste incineration plant was built in 1981 on the edge of Rákospalota and commissioned in May 1982; it could incinerate about 1.6 million cubic metres of waste per year and, besides generating electricity, provided district heating for Káposztásmegyer. Its start-up helped alleviate the economic damage caused by the previous decade's oil crisis and reduced the number of heavily polluting waste dumps around Budapest from 11 to 4. At that time the company also operated three further landfills in the agglomeration. Further achievements of the 1980s included the introduction of dust-free waste containers and modern waste-collection vehicles, as well as vehicles capable of special operations; the number of the latter was 657 in 1970 and 797 in 1990. In the building of the Fővárosi Hulladékhasznosító Mű, a Public Cleaning Museum has presented the company's development since 1985. Alongside mechanisation, traditional street sweepers did not disappear from Budapest; their work was mainly limited to cleaning parks, public stairways, bridges, underpasses and overpasses that were harder to clean with machines. In 1990 the capital produced 4 million cubic metres of waste per year, and the company cleaned 17.8 million square metres of area, 96% of it by machine; FKF then employed 3,207 permanent staff plus approximately 550 casual workers. Today the company carries out permanent selective waste collection alongside municipal waste management, and also the occasional collection of Christmas-tree remains — typically 500,000–600,000 items per year. Selective waste collection was first introduced at Budapest's household waste yards in the late 1990s. Between 2003 and 2005 a new hall was built at the Waste Utilisation Plant and the chimney received flue-gas cleaning equipment. Work on the Pusztazámor Regional Waste Management Centre began in 2000. As a result, at the abandoned landfill on the edge of Dunakeszi only the slag from the Rákospalota waste utilisation plant was deposited in 2015; since then, instead of the planned Csömör site, waste has gone to Pusztazámor, where electricity is generated from methane produced by the decomposition of properly stored waste. One of the most recent developments is the Waste Sorting Plant commissioned in 2023. In the 2000s the company's name changed to Fővárosi Közterület-fenntartó Nonprofit Zrt. The operation of the capital's road network, which had grown to 83 kilometres, was taken over in 2011 by Budapest Közút, a subsidiary of the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK). On 1 September 2021, following a German model, FKF Nonprofit Zrt. was merged with all the other Budapest municipal public-service companies (FŐTÁV Nonprofit Zrt., FŐKERT Nonprofit Zrt., BTI Nonprofit Zrt. and FŐKÉTÜSZ Nonprofit Kft.) into a single large municipal company under the name Budapesti Közművek. From 1 January 2022, in addition to the capital, the company also performed waste-management tasks for Budaörs. From 1 April 2024, waste-management tasks in Budapest and the agglomeration are performed by MOHU BUDAPEST Zrt., while the Budapesti Közművek FKF Köztisztasági Divízió performs public-area cleaning tasks in Budapest on behalf of the Municipality of Budapest.

• 2024

  From 1 April, waste-management tasks in Budapest and the agglomeration are transferred to MOHU BUDAPEST Zrt.; the FKF Köztisztasági Divízió continues public-area cleaning.

• 2023

  The Waste Sorting Plant is commissioned.

• 2022

  From 1 January, the company also performs waste-management tasks for Budaörs.

• 2021

  On 1 September, FKF Nonprofit Zrt. merges with other Budapest municipal public-service companies into Budapesti Közművek.

• 2011

  Operation of the capital's road network is taken over by Budapest Közút, a subsidiary of BKK.

• 2003

  A new hall is built at the Waste Utilisation Plant and the chimney receives flue-gas cleaning equipment (until 2005).

• 2000

  Development of the Pusztazámor Regional Waste Management Centre begins.

• 1985

  The Public Cleaning Museum opens in the building of the Fővárosi Hulladékhasznosító Mű.

• 1982

  The Rákospalota waste incineration plant is commissioned in May.

• 1981

  Construction of Budapest's first waste incineration plant at Rákospalota.

• 1978

  The company is renamed Fővárosi Közterület-fenntartó Vállalat (FKFV).

• 1957

  The waste railway is wound up and vehicles definitively take over waste transport.

• 1952

  After the creation of Greater Budapest, new peripheral districts are included in the office's service area.

• 1949

  The company operates as Fővárosi Köztisztasági Vállalat (until 1957).

• 1945

  The company restarts after the Second World War and removes 9 million cubic metres of rubble and waste within eight months.

• 1928

  Motorised snowploughs and watering vehicles are introduced alongside the switch to motorised waste collection.

• 1909

  The first waste-collection containers are placed on the capital's public areas.

• 1906

  Cséry Lajos's private waste company is bought out by the state; waste transport comes under the Fővárosi Köztisztasági Hivatal.

• 1895

  Fővárosi Köztisztasági Hivatal, the predecessor of today's FKF, is established.

Municipal public-service provider for Budapest, historically responsible for public cleaning and waste management, now the public-cleaning division within the Budapesti Közművek group.

• Public-area cleaning

  Street cleaning, park, stairway, bridge, underpass and overpass cleaning performed by the FKF Köztisztasági Divízió.

• Waste collection and disposal

  Historical municipal waste collection, transport and disposal, including the waste railway and later motorised collection.

• Selective waste collection

  Permanent selective waste collection, first introduced at Budapest household waste yards in the late 1990s.

• Snow removal

  Winter snow removal and related public-area services.

• Road maintenance and related municipal services

  Historical road operation, road marking, sign management and bridge maintenance, later transferred to Budapest Közút.

1. 1| BKM Nonprofit Zrt.budapestikozmuvek.hu
2. 2FKF Private Ltd. – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3FKF Nonprofit Zrt. – Hungarian Wikipediahu.wikipedia.org