Global environmental context
Every year, more and more parties are trying to bring their own economic activity and political decisions in line with the global environmental agenda - states, transnational corporations, medium and small businesses, and individual citizens. For a country that ranks 114th in the Global Green Economy Index (out of 130 countries participating in the study), this should be especially relevant.
“Global warming, deterioration of air quality and pollution of the oceans - all of these environmental problems, as a rule, are not perceived by the inhabitants of the planet as aggravated as the constant increase in solid municipal waste (SMW). Although the contribution of SMW to total carbon dioxide emissions is limited to a “modest” 5% (power engineering, industry and agriculture, for example, harm the ecosystem much more), the threat of proliferation of SMW landfills and disposal sites or the construction of incinerators in the immediate vicinity of residential infrastructure is regularly caused by public protests in different parts of the Earth", - an excerpt from the March issue of RBK" Green is a new black", entirely devoted to the" Green economy".
The situation with the MSW in the country, “garbage reform” and our contribution
And this is very indicative with the example of our country. Thus, planned not for the first year (or more precisely since 2014, when the government decided to seriously take up the “regulation” of the market, developing a full package of amendments to the legislation over the last 5 years) reform of MSW industry (solid municipal waste - ФЗ-89 introduces this term instead of habitual SMW) entered into force to the accompaniment of several major exacerbations: in Volokolamsk, the Arkhangelsk region and other regions, residents demanded to deal with the old landfills and opposed the development of new ones located too close to human settlements. Unauthorized landfills, dozens of private and municipal companies involved in waste removal and disposal, lack of adequate infrastructure, lack of “green thinking” among the population, including due to the lack of an adequate education system ... and 70 million tons of MSW generated in the country every year (according to the Ministry of Natural Resources).
The agenda of “Ecology” National Project, approved at the end of 2018, envisages 11 federal projects with a period of implementation by 2024, designed to systematically respond to the environmental problems accumulated over the years, including those listed above regarding the treatment of MSW. As part of “Development of an integrated system for MSW treatment” FP, a significant launch of new capacities in sorting and recycling of waste and, accordingly, an increase in the proportion of MSW sent for recycling (that is, recycling - in accordance with the definition of ФЗ-89) is expected, from 7% in 2019 up to 36% by 2024, and the share of MSW directed to processing (that is, sorting), from 12% to 60% in the same time period. Financing of the project is estimated at 296 billion rubles, with about a third of these funds allocated from the federal budget.
In addition, the country launched a “garbage reform”, changing the principle of organization of the system: on January 1, 2019 a new link was introduced into the waste management system - regional operators, selected by parties on a competitive basis and called upon to be responsible for the entire waste management cycle in the region, and to develop the appropriate infrastructure. In addition to regional operators, a federal regulatory body, the Russian Ecological Operator, also appeared, which is designed to accompany the “garbage” reform, create conditions for investors to enter and attract investments in the industry, carry out educational activities, accumulate and develop competences in the sphere of MSW treatment, initiate changes in legislation - both justified and necessary.
In 2011-2012, “Bright” company carried out a project on reforming the system for handling solid waste in Moscow (the capital waste volume is more than 12% of the volume of the country as a whole), within the framework of which the Integrated Reform Program for waste of Moscow”, based on the current situation of enterprises (SUE“ Ecotechprom ”and MSUE “Promothody”) in the industry, analysis of international experience in this field, selected model of development of each enterprise and economic efficiency. Even then, we paid special attention to the exhaustion of landfills, the lack of capacity for sorting and recycling, tariffs that did not cover the industry’s costs and investment needs, need to create attractive conditions for private investment, expediency of having a single operator responsible for the entire MSW from transportation to disposal, as well as organization of at least two-container waste collection (for organic waste and separately for glass, plastic, paper and metal - fractions to be further processed). All this was accompanied by calculations and a solid evidence base accumulated by our experts for almost a year of work on the project.
Consonant initiatives with the results of that project — a random coincidence or evidence of their justification and the time tested, we are now observing in the course of the “garbage reform”, only by the example of other regions (for federal cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol, the authorities provided three years for transition to a new model). To some extent, this allows us to feel involved in the changes taking place in the industry. In addition, our internal corporate and private initiatives of our employees (separate collection of garbage and its sending for recycling) are characterized by a conscious relationship with the environment, and at the local level contribute to this issue. We are advocating our readers for this.
We continue to monitor changes in the garbage industry and to inform you about significant changes.