Ukraine has to transfer to the integrated waste management system operating on the principles of inter-municipal cooperation
Ukraine has to gradually abandon the planning of waste management on the basis of administrative division and transfer to integrated solid waste management system operating on the principles of inter-municipal cooperation. Such approach is stipulated in the National Strategy of Waste Management in Ukraine until 2030. It was said by Head of the Department for Territories Improvement and Municipal Services - Director of Office for Solid Waste Management Ms. Luidmyla Poltorachenko during the round table discussion "State Sectoral Policy in the Context Decentralisation" held within the framework of the Forum of Partners of the DESPRO Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralisation Support Project in Ukraine that took place in Kyiv on 10-11 October.
According to Luidmyla Poltorachenko, such approach provides for the integration of efforts on the part of bodies of local self-government to establish an appropriate system of solid waste management (waste loading stations, waste sorting lines, waste processing plants, facilities for processing, treatment and disposal of wastes, regional landfills, etc.) taking into account the principles of substantial saving and geographical practicality.
She also noted that, as of today, the draft Strategy has been developed with and approved by all stakeholders in the executive branch of power, social partners, and non-governmental organizations.
It is a reminder that in December 2015 the European Commission approved the action plan on transition to a closed-loop economy until 2019 stipulating that such model would become the basis of the EU sustainable development strategy.
In 2016, the Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Ecology, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of Regional Development, and international experts from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH or GIZ, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the EU-funded TWINNING project "Introduction of a Management System of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in Ukraine". On the basis of the Memorandum, the National Strategy of Waste Management in Ukraine until 2030 has been developed.
The objective of the strategy is to develop a new approach to the waste problem as the source of material and energy resources taking efforts at the same time of continued minimization by conventional methods of the waste generation as a result of production and consumption; ensure waste disposal and processing to the maximum extent possible through the introduction of the most advanced waste treatment technologies.
Main objectives of the Strategy:
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To reduce the number of illegal disposal sites and have them replaced by regional landfills in accordance with the State Construction Regulations;
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To facilitate separate collection of valuable waste suitable for processing into secondary raw materials where it is economically feasible and financially profitable;
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To encourage preliminary processing of residential solid waste before its removal to landfills and reduce the volume of discarded waste through the development of modern infrastructure facilities for processing.
Source: the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine