A budget has been found for the waste reform

It is proposed to spend the eco-fee and internal reserves of the federal project on its restart.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has published two draft government resolutions that significantly change the rules for state financing of the waste management industry. In particular, Rosprirodnadzor is given the opportunity to spend the eco-fee funds, initially aimed at monitoring waste disposal, on its activities "in general". The state operator of the industry, PPK REO, is proposed to cover the cash gaps of its "daughters" - new regional waste operators - with loans from unused funds of the industry federal project. At the same time, it is proposed to reduce the subsidized volume of waste disposal by five times - from 50 thousand to 10 thousand tons: the department proceeds from the fact that after the recent launch of the mandatory register of waste disposal companies, there will be few of them in the register, the state and business will compete for their capacity, and lowering the bar for subsidized disposal will not hurt them.

Two draft government resolutions, published yesterday by the Ministry of Natural Resources on regulation.gov.ru, propose that the White House support rather significant changes in the waste industry financing system. The first one is about allowing Rosprirodnadzor to spend funds from the environmental fee to ensure its own functions. The environmental fee, we recall, is a “colored” payment by companies to the budget for the state’s disposal of waste (its alternative is independent disposal within the framework of the extended responsibility of producers and importers for their waste).

The Law “On Production and Consumption Waste” requires payment from the environmental fee for Rosprirodnadzor’s control over the implementation of disposal requirements, however, as the Ministry notes, the service is engaged in this along with other tasks, it is “not possible” to allocate control expenses and “funds in the amount of environmental fee receipts” should be directed to its financing “in general, without specifying a specific authority,” which, we note, is relevant in the context of the strict budget policy of the coming years.

The second project allows the Russian Ecological Operator to spend budget funds from the subsidy for infrastructure support for the industry also on revolving loans to its subsidiaries and granddaughters from among the new regional waste management operators. Earlier (see Kommersant of April 1 and May 27), the purchases of shares in a number of regional operators by the Russian Ecological Operator were recognized as a “working” scheme for restoring control and efficiency of the industry.

They are proposed to provide revolving loans from unused funds of the national project “Ecological Well-being” (it was launched in 2025 and probably has uncontracted financial reserves).

The Ministry explains the need for such loans by analyzing the activities of newly appointed regional operators: "it was revealed that they begin to incur expenses for the purchase of necessary equipment and machinery, construction, reconstruction of transfer stations and equipment basing sites, as well as for covering operating expenses from the beginning of their activities," and the money for the issued invoices arrives with a gap of a couple of months.

Also, when regional operators change, the collection of payments falls, as a result, the shortage of working capital in the first year can reach the required gross revenue in 3-3.5 months. It is proposed to direct subsidy funds to loans to cover this cash gap: commercial loans are usually unavailable to new regional operators, and the lack of funds leads to a deterioration in the quality of services "up to the impossibility" of work. The deadlines are pressing - the Ministry insists on the entry into force of the resolution from the date of publication for "immediate support of the MSW management industry." At the same time, it is proposed to reduce the result of providing a subsidy for waste disposal by specialized companies fivefold, from 50 thousand tons to 10 thousand tons per year: in the new configuration of the system of extended responsibility of producers and importers for their waste, recyclers are required to register in the register with an inspection of production capacities. "At the first stage... the register of recyclers will contain a small number" of such companies, "which means that their capacities will be in demand almost in full by manufacturers and importers of goods and packaging" and a reduction in the volume of recycling subsidized by the state does not threaten them in any way, the department explains.

Source: www.kommersant.ru

For reference:

As part of the implementation of the decision of the heads of glass container factories dated January 16, 2024, the StekloSoyuz Association of Russia continues to work with the Government of the Russian Federation, the PPC REO, relevant ministries and departments on the application of extended producer responsibility (EPR) for glass factories.

Including on the organization of separate collection of glass waste, recognition of glass factories as recyclers, tariffs, standards, VAT and other areas necessary for the development of secondary raw materials production.