Beer - in containers no more than a liter, dishes from corn: how in Belarus they will switch to eco-packaging

The Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the phased reduction of the use of polymer packaging. Next year, a list of polymeric materials will appear that will be prohibited from being used as packaging.

In addition, 30 new landfills will appear in Belarus, where waste will not only be disposed of, but also sorted and composted. The Academy of Sciences will develop an alternative to plastic utensils - from corn or starch. And there will also be more glass containers - it, like plastic, can be handed over in stores.

So, according to the plan, a separate waste collection will be organized in Belarus during mass events: this is true for large festivals and for sports events, when tons of plastic, food waste, glass and paper are dumped into one container.

A list of disposable plastic utensils will also be developed, which from 2021 will be banned from selling in cafes and restaurants.

“It is planned to introduce a restriction on the use of polymer containers with a volume of more than 1 liter for bottling beer and low-alcohol products,” said representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources Vadim Demko. - In Russia, since 2017, such a restriction already applies - on containers with a volume of more than 1.5 liters. Glass packaging factories will be modernized. The use of glass is more environmentally friendly and economically feasible. We have enough raw material base both for the production of primary glass and for processing waste from glass. We also plan to introduce a deposit (collateral) system for the use of classic packaging - cans, PET bottles, glass containers. The entire world community is struggling with the use of disposable packaging, because mountains of garbage are formed, this leads to environmental pollution and its degradation.

The representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources emphasizes: there will be no shock therapy in Belarus, the plan provides for the phased replacement of plastic. Enterprises will be given time to modernize production. The ministry recognizes that it is necessary to stimulate buyers financially: alternative packaging - the same paper bag - should cost less than plastic.

On average, every Belarusian produces 400 kg of household waste per year, the highest rate in Minsk, the lowest - in the Mogilev region.

“Plastic is the most problematic category of waste,” Director of the Center for Environmental Solutions Yevgeny Lobanov noted earlier in a TUT.BY comment. - A significant part of the waste is not intended for high-quality processing - there are technical difficulties when the packaging of different types, it is difficult to separate. Economic incentive measures are needed so that it is profitable for the manufacturer and seller to use reusable containers, but now the plant pays the same for both a one-time and a reusable bottle. Reusable is even more difficult, because you need to organize a collection.

Yevgeny Lobanov says that the main task should be minimizing waste and so far this task is not being fulfilled: the legislation is lagging (there are not enough incentive measures), and the infrastructure, and environmental self-awareness.

- Waste is growing at a faster pace. According to Belstat, in 2018, the amount of waste increased by 9%, GDP by 3%. This is a very worrying trend.

According to Vadim Demko, it is planned to create a system of interregional polygons in Belarus - 30 such facilities. They will include not only landfills for waste disposal, but also sorting at waste recycling plants, as well as composting sites.

Source: tut.by