On July 13, in Tulchyn, Vinnytsia oblast, two important and interrelated events took place, which are important not only in the life of the local community, but also in the scale of the whole country: the round table “Regional and Inter-Municipal Solutions in the field of implementation of the Integrated Solid Waste Management” and the Grand Opening of a newly built landfill for solid household waste. 

This day gives good hope and a positive signal not only to Tulchyn, but also to other Ukrainian communities, because the urgent need to deal with garbage is almost universal. 

The Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project in Ukraine - DESPRO is directly involved in the development and implementation of the Integrated Solid Waste Management System in the Tulchyn target region, and in the support of the construction of a new SHW landfill site, so the Project team, together with the leadership of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine represented by Mr. Holger Tausch, arrived at the event venue almost in full strength. 

Among the participants of the round table, the delegation of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services included Ms. Liliia Popova, Head of the Section, and Mr. Maksym Barinov, Head of the Department. The role of the hosts of the celebration was played by the Oblast leaders: Mr. Valerii Korovii, Head of the Oblast State Administration, Deputy Heads Mr. Andrii Hyzhko and Mr. Vasyl Brovarnyk, the leadership of Tulchyn Rayon, the majority of the heads of the amalgamated communities in the rayon and, of course, Mr. Valerii Vesnianyi, Mayor of Tulchyn. 

During the round table speakers voiced a number of important theses, which outline not only the problems of the present, but also our future in terms of waste management. 

Firstly, the success of the Tulchyn Inter-Municipal Project for creating the Integrated Solid Waste Management System has become possible due to several important factors, including: the sincere desire of the community and the leadership of Tulchyn and the neighbouring village councils in Suvorove and Kynashiv to solve the long-standing problem not sporadically, but systematically, collaboration with the Oblast leaders, attraction of international assistance, namely, the best expertise and additional funding. The Swiss Cooperation Office, through the DESPRO Project, extended a helping hand to the residents of Tulchyn, as one of the principles of cooperation is a precise response to the needs of the Ukrainian communities: Mr. Holger Tausch, Head of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine, said this in his welcoming speech. 

Secondly, there is a holistic strategy for Integrated Solid Household Waste Management at the regional level in Vinnytsia Oblast, which creates a real ground for such successful projects in the Oblast, and the example of Tulchyn is nearby, -said Mr. Vasyl Brovarnik, Deputy Head of Vinnytsia Oblast State Administration, presenting this concept in facts and figures. 

Thirdly, the country has established a National Strategy for Integrated Solid Waste Management, and it has ambitious goals to eliminate 6 000 garbage dumps in Ukraine, by transforming them into 152 Waste Management and Recycling Centres. Time imposes demands on high technological capacity of these centres, therefore, they will be expensive in the technical and financial sense, and it will not be possible to implement them otherwise than through inter-municipal or even interregional cooperation. That is why communities should more actively use the mechanism of inter-municipal cooperation in solving such large-scale issues, as they did it in Tulchyn. Mr. Maksym Barynov and Ms. Liliia Popova, representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development, spoke about this. 

A great result of the day was the Grand Opening of a new landfill constructed according to all engineering rules – with the use of a protective fencing, protective membrane, weighing complex, and a special powerful bulldozer. 

Ukrainian communities are worthy of high standards of living, including the clean and smart streets, roadsides, clean ground and drinking water. Not only in clean Switzerland, but also in Ukraine there are examples of how success can be achieved step by step in such a complicated matter as the treatment of solid household waste. It is necessary to roll up the sleeves and learn from the good example of the Inter-Municipal System for Integrated Solid Waste Management of such communities as Tulchyn, Kynashiv and Suvorovske.