Waste production: first results of the reform of the MSW management industry

From February to September, collection rates for garbage collection and disposal increased two and a half times. If in February about 30% of citizens paid, then by October their share increased to almost 70%. This was reported to "Izvestia" by the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kobylkin. According to him, eight entities that were not included in the reform program promise to select regional operators by the end of the year. In order to effectively deal with garbage, it is necessary to build processing facilities and switch to recycling waste into secondary raw materials, say environmental experts surveyed by Izvestia.

Institute of Operators

In some regions, more than 90% of the population compensates for the expenses of regional [NP2] operators: in the Tver, Kursk, Lipetsk, Tomsk, Yaroslavl regions, the republics of Mordovia and Tatarstan, in Sevastopol, but in Ingushetia and Tuva payment collection at the level of 30%, they said “ Izvestia ”in the public law company“ Russian Environmental Operator ”(PPK“ REO ”).

A completely new branch of the economy is being created in Russia - the sphere of waste management, including municipal solid waste (MSW). The goal of this year was the formation of territorial schemes for the placement of MSW, bidding and the selection of regional waste management operators to decriminalize this difficult business, said Dmitry Kobylkin.

- For ten months we have formed a regulatory framework regarding waste management, earned PPK “REO” and regional operators who see prospects in this business. Now about 250 regional operators are already working. Most regions have switched to new requirements, except for eight entities, but they promise to do this before the end of the year, but I think that not everyone will cope with this task, the minister told Izvestia.

According to PPK “REO”, the Arkhangelsk, Kurgan, Jewish Autonomous Oblasts, Primorsky, Zabaykalsky, Khabarovsk Territories, Moscow and St. Petersburg have not yet switched to the new scheme. Partially use it Krasnodar and Krasnoyarsk Territories, Leningrad, Voronezh, Magadan, Vladimir, Saratov and Ulyanovsk Regions, as well as the Republic of Mari El.

The subjects of the federation conclude long-term agreements with regional operators, said Ruslan Gubaidullin, Executive Director of the Clean Country Association. At the same time, he is confident that operators need two or three years of stability, which will allow the industry to earn a late, planned regime.

- After 10 months of transformation, one has to hear that “the transition had yet to be postponed,” “the territories are not ready,” “the reform has stalled.” But earlier these issues were not comprehensively addressed, so no one promised that it would be easy. And the transfer of the reform could once again lead the regions to an environmental disaster, since most of the landfills are overcrowded and can no longer be exploited, ”the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources is convinced.

In his opinion, it is necessary to gradually move away from landfill waste and the transition to recycling - today the main landmark of the Ecology national project.

The rate is controversial

So far, one of the most controversial issues of the reform is what should be the tariff for garbage collection. In mid-October, the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev said that in some regions the tariff was overestimated several times and the department’s specialists would check their validity during the year. He stressed that the adjustment of tariffs after checking the FAS for some regions downward is inevitable.

- In the regions, a tender was held to select an operator. The tender resulted in a tariff. The difference in tariffs in the end reached dozens of times, ”said Igor Artemyev.

These discrepancies are directly related to the presence of modern infrastructure in the region, their remoteness from settlements, I am sure the deputy general director of the public law company Russian Environmental Operator Vyacheslav Dukhin.

“Somewhere the waste is transported for 20 km, and somewhere for 200, in some regions the waste is disposed of using old technologies, and somewhere modern waste landfills have been built to protect the environment, so the tariffs are very different,” the representative explained "Russian environmental operator."

He recalled: the regional operator’s tariff includes expenses for the transportation of MSW, processing, disposal, disposal of waste, as well as the costs of concluding and servicing contracts with consumers and operators for the treatment of MSW.

- Ecology has never been cheap, a low service tariff is possible when garbage is simply disposed of in a landfill. As we strive for a culture of responsible consumption and respect for the environment, an increase in the cost of waste management services is justified, says Ruslan Gubaidullin.

At the beginning of 2020, REO plans to launch a federal waste management scheme, a directory of waste accumulation standards, and electronic models of territorial schemes will be created to search for the optimal waste transportation scheme.

“These measures will allow us to systematize tariff regulation,” said Vyacheslav Dukhin.

Second life of waste

Garbage must be sorted, recycled and recycled, but today in Russia a maximum of 30% of waste can be recycled, including food waste, environmentalists surveyed by Izvestia say.

- The problem is that the Russian commodity producer allows itself to produce non-processed types of products, because it does not pay for its disposal. As a result, even if people participate in separate collection, some of the waste that they carefully collected is sent to the trash because they are not recycled, ”said Anna Garkusha, an ecologist and activist of the Separate Collection, an activist.

She believes that large manufacturers of packaging, which makes up half of all today's waste, should create production capacities for processing MSW fractions.

- This is within the power of, for example, the Sibur company, which produces all types of plastic in Russia. The company convinces us that plastic is the most environmentally friendly type of packaging, it can be recycled an unlimited number of times, but no processing plants have yet been built, ”said environmentalist Alexander Zakondyrin, noting that the total landfill area in Russia is equal to the territories of Belgium or the Netherlands.

According to Anna Garkusha, grocery supermarkets should contribute to the separate collection of garbage.

- They can refuse packaging from non-recyclable materials and help visitors to buy more products in their containers, string bags and bags. Plus food chains can prevent food waste. If the shelf life of products is coming to an end, then it is necessary to develop programs for its implementation to the population at a discount or to sacrifice to poor people, the ecologist calls.

The resumption of the practice of receiving glass containers in stores, which was in the Soviet Union, admits the co-chair of the international socio-environmental union Svyatoslav Zabelin. He is convinced that in Russia it is necessary to revive a culture of reusable use of things, which has been replaced by a culture of one-time consumption. In the meantime, according to the expert, separate collection of garbage in Russia is largely an imitation, but you need to start somewhere. For example, people need to gradually move to a separate collection of food waste and learn how to divide garbage into three buckets.

“One bucket should be organic - food waste, the second for recycled materials - paper, glass, metal, plastic, and the third - for all other non-recyclable waste,” the ecologist advises.

Garbage disposal

The task of the Ecology national project is to increase the share of MSW processing to 60% by the end of 2024, but there are regional operators who have already brought this figure to 100% this year, Dmitry Kobylkin said.

- In Russia, modern waste sorting complexes are being opened, including fully designed and built by Russian companies. At the expense of investors, production facilities for processing various types of waste are launched, the minister told Izvestia.

Dmitry Kobylkin admitted that so far such changes have not occurred everywhere.

- It is impossible to build an entire system in 10 months. Many European countries have been on this path for decades. Moreover, we must honestly admit: it’s difficult to name the previous waste management scheme as a system, ”the minister explained.

This year, for the first time in Russia, in the Ulyanovsk Region, the technology of organic waste disposal was widely applied. They learned how to obtain safe industrial soil from food waste.

- Bioorganic fractions are selected on a sorting line laid on the prepared site and bioadditives are introduced. After this, the embankment is covered and moistened, periodically mixing. If technology is observed, after 2.5 months, ready-made reclamation material is obtained for the restoration of waste landfills, quarries, contaminated lands, and it is also great for growing flowers, lawns, ”said the acting Director of the regional operator Gorkomkhoz Dmitry Fatyanov.

The waste sorting complex at the end of the year will be completed in the Rostov region. The first ecotechnopark in the region is located in the Volgodonsk region. Its capacity is up to 200 thousand tons of waste per year. Ecotechnopark includes a waste sorting complex, a landfill and a bio-composting site.

“Here, the waste will go through a full cycle: the maximum selection of useful fractions on automatic sorting lines, the processing of organics into compost, which can then be used in agriculture and in the reclamation of landfills, as well as the safe disposal of unused fractions in a modern landfill,” the chairman explained to Izvestia Polina Vergun, Board of Directors of the Clean City Group of Companies (regional MSW management operator).

In order for the reform to work at full capacity, it is necessary to create infrastructure, while the first changes are already beginning to be noticed by the country's inhabitants, Dmitry Kobylkin is sure.

“Containers for separate collection of garbage appear in the yards, new, modern garbage trucks come for waste, and investors see government attention to the industry, and, accordingly, extra-budgetary funds are invested in infrastructure,” the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources said.

According to him, an approximate estimate of the volume of private investment in facilities introduced in 2019 is 20 billion rubles. And in total PPK “REO” selected 43 projects in 20 regions for financing, the total cost of their creation is estimated at 47.5 billion rubles.

By 2024, during the implementation of the Ecology national project, it is planned to build 220 new modern complexes for the processing, placement and disposal of MSW worth 290 billion rubles, of which 180 billion are investor funds.

Source: https://iz.ru