Kyiv, April 3, 2018
Local authorities have to activate waste recycling – environmentalists
Since January 1, 2018, the landfilling of non-recycled domestic waste has been banned in Ukraine. According to the law “On Waste”, local councils, including village and town councils and amalgamated territorial communities, are responsible for this process. In order to teach them how to organize proper waste recycling, experts of the EU project “Ukrainian civil society for European-style waste management” held the training “Organization of effective waste management: what local authorities can do” in Kyiv on April 3.
“It is vital for Ukraine to change the strategy of waste management. Local authorities can become the driving force and organize proper waste management and control over waste,” Olena Kravchenko, the executive director of International Charitable Organization “Environment-People-Law” emphasized.
In order to decrease landfilling of domestic waste, local councils have to:
Install 4 separate containers for glass, plastic, paper and mixed domestic waste in every village, town, city or amalgamated territorial communities.
Pass over valuable components of waste to those enterprises that will reuse or recycle them.
Build in regions waste processing complexes that will include waste sorting lines, organic composting (to transform it into fertilizers and to produce biogas) and modern landfilling sites to bury the refuse that cannot be reused or recycled.
Experts of the EU project advise to use not only budget funds but also to involve foreign investors and international foundations and grants. For example, in Lviv, European Union funds were used to purchase the installation for recycling of hazardous luminescent lamps. Kharkiv uses credit funds from the World Bank to construct a landfill site for domestic waste, a waste sorting line, a station for producing energy from landfill biogas and the station for filtrates purification. In Vinnytsia, a station for producing electricity from landfill biogas has been constructed within the project of state-private partnership involving foreign investors.
Background information: According to the Ministry of Regional Development, about 11 mln tons of domestic waste were created in Ukraine in 2016, 95% of them are dumped at landfill sites covering 9,000 ha. Only 3% of waste is recycled and composted. Only 20 settlements have installed sorting lines. 2% of all the populated localities segregate waste. Only 8 settlements have stations for producing energy from landfill biogas.
To compare: Germany recycles and composts 66% of domestic waste, Switzerland – 53%, Poland – 44%. Sweden and Switzerland landfill less than 1% of domestic waste. Sweden uses biogas produced from domestic waste to generate electricity for residential buildings.
The EU-funded project “Ukrainian civil society for European-style waste management” is implemented by the International Charitable Organization “Environment-People-Law” (EPL) in partnership with the non-governmental organization Environmental Initiatives (EI). It aims to increase effectiveness of the waste management system in Ukraine and to decrease negative impact of waste on the environment. Duration: July 2016 – July 2019.
Environment-People-Law focuses on promoting the rule of law for environmental protection, advancement of environmental education and culture.
Environmental Initiatives works to protect the right of Ukrainians to a safe and healthy environment.
For more information, please contact Alla Voytsykhovska by email: alla.voytsyhovska@gmail.com, or by phone: +38 032 2257682.
