Krasnodar, 2 December. In September 2022, Svetlana Radionova, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, the federal environmental watchdog, ranked Krasnodar Krai on the list of the nation’s dirtiest regions, noting the problems with garbage disposal existing there.
“Regretfully, the implementation of the waste disposal reform was a fail in our region. In the [Krasnodar] region, the share of waste segregation is still low; there are no landfills that would recycle organic wastes together with household solid wastes,” said Yelena Shuvalova, Coordinator of the “Help Your City” public movement.
Currently, there are 5,300 containers in the region for separate waste collection, which is insignificant bearing in mind nearly six million people living there.
The introduction of the waste reform meant introduction of the management system for all waste streams – from collection to recycling to disposal.
At the background of the inefficient work of the governmental and supervisory structures, a big deal of waste is brought to forests and dug there. It is evidence of the fact that the regional authorities have not found the required control mechanisms.
Two years after the launch of the waste reform, even its first stage – appointing the regional operators and beginning of their work – has not been completed. Now there are six regional operators dealing with household solid wastes in the region. Their activity covers eight out of the 11 existing zones. During the reform, not a single waste recycling or sorting facility was built in the region.
Altogether, agreements on construction of waste recycling infrastructure have been signed with regional operators and investors to the total sum of 7.3 billion roubles. The project developments are to begin at the end of 2023 – in 2024 only.
Since 2020, not a single landfill has been reclaimed in Krasnodar Krai. The main reason for that is the cost of the procedure, which may reach as much as one billion roubles. Besides, reclamation of landfills often is impossible due to the lack of replacing facilities. The facility in Belorechensk Rayon is a bright example: it accepts 580,000 tons of waste every year, including 330,000 tons from Sochi. Last year, the federal environmental watchdog revealed 27 violations there.
“For many years, the need to build new landfills has been discussed in the region, but new facilities have not appeared so far,” emphasised Yekaterina Plakhina, ecologist and Director of the EcoProm, Association of Goods Manufacturers, Importers and Processors.
Public discussions of the need to construct a number of landfills and other infrastructural facilities have stopped after protests of local residents. Experts believe that the confrontation between the authorities and local people appeared due to the lack of dialogue between them.
Another means to achieve agreement with local residents may have been the law on preferences for persons that live close to the landfills and waste recycling facilities. However, no final decision on this initiative has ever been taken, either.
