The Attorney General criticized the implementation of the waste reform

Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, in his annual report to the Federation Council, noted the presence of "systemic violations" in the process of introducing a new waste management scheme. In response, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology stated that the ongoing waste reform in Russia faced serious difficulties. Firstly, some subjects of the Russian Federation experience difficulties in organizing places for the collection and accumulation of household waste. Secondly, regional operators do not always fulfill their obligations in good faith.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has formulated new rules and conditions for the issuance and distribution of federal subsidies that will be allocated for the development of modern container sites for the separate collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the regions of Russia. At the moment, the document is going through the stage of final approvals and should be approved in the near future.

Representatives of the department note the formation of healthy competition between participants in the "garbage market", which should lead to effective cooperation between bona fide regional operators and local governments. Such close interaction should drive out unscrupulous players who regard the industry not as a source of long-term profit, but as an opportunity for quick profit.

According to the statistics cited by Igor Krasnov in his report, illegal landfills continue to operate in half of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and there are also violations of garbage collection schedules. According to the Prosecutor General, in 30% of the regions the state of landfills does not meet the requirements of environmental and sanitary standards. Regional authorities have taken the position of an observer and apply the principle of non-interference in the organization of places for collection and storage of solid waste. A similar report was made to the President and Prime Minister.

The Russian Environmental Operator (REO) oversees the work of all local operators in the country and is responsible for the implementation of the reform. The press service of the company explained that there are approved sanitary standards that regulate the frequency of removal of solid waste. Compliance with these standards is monitored by Rospotrebnadzor. REO also has a hotline of REO RADAR, which receives complaints about violations or failures in the work of operators.

Garbage reform was launched in Russia in January last year. The developers of the national project "Ecology" have identified as one of the priorities the introduction of a unified system for handling municipal solid waste. Responsible for the implementation of the reform were appointed regional operators who are directly responsible for waste management on the ground.

The reform involves the introduction of sorting and separate collection in order to increase the market for secondary raw materials and ensure the loading of processing enterprises. In parallel, it is planned to eliminate landfills and piles of garbage, followed by the reclamation of vacated land. According to the federal waste management scheme, more than one and a half thousand existing landfills must be destroyed. Most of these unauthorized facilities are located in the Far East, the Caucasus and South Siberia.

Source: https://musor.moscow/