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This article outlines problems related to the location of facilities designed to treat the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). Anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities are investigated as a treatment option, while taking into account the aspects of renewable energy generation. This research has been spurred on by the relationship between waste management, energy generation issues and spatial planning procedures. The analysis is focused on urban and semi-urban areas of medium and large cities. One of the most difficult issues associated with siting of waste processing plants is its integration with local infrastructures, avoiding conflicts and negative environmental impacts at the same time. This research aims to analyse possible locations for AD plants fuelled by OFMSW in Poland. Based on the experience gained from other countries and lessons learnt from the analysis of existing facilities in Europe, conditions for the location of this type of waste treatment plants have been defined, with the focus on economic, environmental and social issues. Most likely, the results of the multicriteria decision analysis for siting of municipal solid waste AD plants (M-BIST tool) could be transferred to other countries, especially those with a comparable GDP level and a similar framework for a waste management system.

The paper focuses on the evolution of the planning system in Poland. Its purpose is to show the evolution from short-term planning, subordinated to the requirements of the country’s economic development, to a long-term planning system, integrating various aspects of development—spatial, natural, economic, and social, taking place over the last century. The process described in the paper was largely conditioned by historical events, and the poor economic situation of the country in the post-war period and the changes taking place in the political system. The need for rapid economic development of the country dominated the planning of the interwar period (1920s and 1930s) and post-war period (1950s to 1970s), although the economic, social, and natural conditions were taken into account in 1930s spatial planning. The most complete representation of spatial integration of various planning scopes is visible in the “National Spatial Development Concept 2030,” which was the main subject of the study, as the basic document concerning national spatial planning. The research demonstrates the novelty of this document in relation to previous ones. It is based on the vision of Polish space on, the development of functional areas, determined on the basis of socioeconomic and spatial features treated in a dynamic approach. The need for changes in applicable law that would allow the “National Spatial Development Concept 2030” to be implemented in planning practice is also pointed out. The material presented in the paper may form the basis for comparative studies of planning documents on a national level in various European countries.