Eight in 10 Polish local government authorities do not have an effective system of clamping down on people burning rubbish in their furnaces at home, according to a report.

Despite the fact that incinerating rubbish has been banned in Poland for almost 20 years, such practices are widespread, according to the Polish Smog Alert organisation.

“Few people question that we have a problem with smog. We can create the best laws, but if we do not create the right mechanisms to ensure the law is enforced, we will have only dead legislation,” Andrzej Guła of the Polish Smog Alert group said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in April said his government would make every effort to drive down pollution in a bid to leave a legacy of cleaner air to new generations of Poles.

After taking office last December, Morawiecki declared that tackling air pollution would be one of his government’s priorities.

According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 33 of Europe’s 50 most polluted cities are in Poland. The WHO estimates that around 50,000 Poles die every year due to illness caused by air pollution.

A government minister has said that smog in Poland will disappear 10 years after the launch of a new campaign to combat air pollution.