solid municipal waste management in the russian
SOLID MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: THE TRANSITION TO A NEW REGULATORY SYSTEM EKATERINA M. OZEROVA phd, UMAN, Surgut, Russia
Nowadays, the Russian Federation is transitioning to a new solid municipal waste management system. All activities become regulated by the state and completely transparent. A regional operator to handle solid municipal waste for 10 years, is selected on a competitive basis in each constituent entity of Russian Federation. The regional operator organizes a system for processing (sorting) of solid municipal waste or separate collection of solid municipal waste components, with subsequent disposal of the separated components. Also, targets are set for reducing the burial of solid municipal waste, prohibiting the burial of useful components of waste. All unauthorized waste disposal facilities must reclaimed. All regions should switch to a new system by 01.01.2019. The waste management in the Russian Federation is divided into two parts: circulation of consumption wastes, which will be completely regulated by the state, and circulation of production wastes. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, the total value of accumulated and accounted production and consumption wastes in the whole of Russia at the end of 2015 was approximately 31.5 billion tons. This figure is approximate because of the objective difficulties in accounting for wastes, accumulated for many years ago, as well as in identifying decomposition, decline in quality, weathering, corrosion and overgrown with grass previously accumulated wastes. The overwhelming part of the accumulated and identified wastes belongs to the fifth hazard class, that is practically non-hazardous waste - 31.1 billion tons, or almost 99% to their total volume. The main trends that reflect the formation of production and consumption wastes in Russia over the past nine years are shown in picture 1. The corresponding data are taken from the summary reports of enterprises-nature users on the form of federal statistical observation № 2-tp (wastes) "Information on the formation, use, neutralization, transportation and disposal of production and consumption wastes". Collection and processing of data on this form is carried out in the system of The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Nature Management.
Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017 S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Picture 1 - Trends of formation of production and consumption wastes in Russia According to The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Nature Management, as of 01.01.2016, the total number of valid licenses (including issued earlier) in Russia, for activities in the field of waste management, is 11667. As a whole, the number of used and neutralized production and consumption wastes in the country increased almost twice from 2006 to 2015 years (picture 2). At the same time, the level of use (rendering harmless) of production and consumption wastes, in relation to the volume of their formation, increased from 40 % to 53 %.
Picture 2 - Dynamics of use and neutralization of production and consumption wastes in Russia The largest volume of waste processing is characteristic for the type of activity "extraction of
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
minerals". This sector accounts for over 90% of the total amount of used and neutralized waste in the Russian Federation. In their composition, the major part is occupied by empty and enclosing rocks, as well as wastes of enrichment (including sand, clays, rocks, slimes, etc.). On the second place on processing of a waste there are objects of processing manufactures. Handling of solid municipal waste in the Russian Federation In accordance with Federal law № 458 of 29th of December year 2014 "On amending the Federal law" On production and consumption wastes ", certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation and the recognition of certain legislative acts (provisions of legislative acts) of the Russian Federation as invalid", in the country at the official level, the term of "solid municipal waste" was introduced. However, by 2016-2017 years, relatively reliable and official information was available only for solid household wastes. Its collection and development for a long time have been and continue to be carried out in the system of state statistics bodies. In this regard, the corresponding analysis was made precisely on the basis of this information. In recent years, in Russia, the amount of annual removal of solid wastes from residential areas, has been estimated at a relatively small amount of about 1% in the composition of all wastes of production and consumption, generated annually. At the same time, the population faces with problems of environmental pollution household wastes almost everywhere, not only on the territory of cities and towns, but also in suburban zones, in forests, in areas of agricultural lands, etc. According to The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Nature Management, by the beginning of 2016 year in the country there were 743 registered objects with especially significant harmful effects on the environment - the so-called "hot spots". The 56% of these were landfills and solid waste dumps. In the year 2000, the total volume of solid waste removal in Russia as a whole was 152 million m3, in the year 2005 – 186 million m3, in the year 2010 – 235 million m3, in the year 2014 – 283 million m3 and in the year 2015 – 282 million m3. A relatively small part of the total volume of solid waste removal is delivered on the objects for waste processing and waste incineration. In particular, in the year 2015, about 21 million m3 (7% of the total volume of solid waste removal) were directed to waste processing facilities, and to waste incineration plants - less than 7 million m3 of solid waste (2.4%). It should be borne in mind, that in addition to solid wastes, from residential areas in year 2015, almost 42 million tones of liquid wastes were removed, and over 62 million m3 of snow, that fell out during the winter period, in many cases contaminated with various harmful impurities.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Table 1. The share of solid waste incineration in developed countries
Country
Population, mln
Switzerland Japan Denmark Sweden France Holland Germany Italy USA Spain England Russia (2015)
7 123 5 9 56 15 61 58 248 38 57 146
Number Solid of waste,million incineration tons/year plants 2,9 29 44,5 1900 2,6 32 2,7 21 18,5 100 71 9 40,5 51 15,6 51 180 168 11,8 21 35 7 182,3
Share of burned solid waste, in% 79 72 65 59 41 39 33 17 16 6 5 2,4
The share of burned solid waste in some countries reaches 70% or more: for example, in Switzerland - 79%, in Japan - 72%. These dumps and landfills are often sources of pollution by various harmful substances not only soil and land resources, but also: a) atmospheric air (including greenhouse gases) as a result of the decomposition of some wastes, difficultly extinguishing fires, etc .; b) water resources - in the first place, located in underground horizons - when filtering harmful substances from the surface of the earth. In addition, these objects can serve as a source of so-called "biological" pollution, because they contribute to the spread of rats, they are places of undesirable accumulation of birds, stray animals, etc. A significant negative impact on the environment is rendered by spontaneous (ownerless), relatively small, but numerous and difficultly controlled dumps of the waste. Garbage collected in the streets, contaminated snow and ice, fallen leaves, bark and wood waste from urban trees and bushes, mown grass and so on are an additional burden on the environment beyond the boundaries of many cities. In year 2015, in a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, solid municipal waste / solid household waste landfills and waste recycling complexes were commissioned. Active work in this area was done in: the Republics of Adygea, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Ingushetia, Komi, Mari El, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Udmurtia and Chuvash republics ; Krasnodar, Perm, Stavropol and Khabarovsk Territories; Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Vologda, Ivanovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Lipetsk, Murmansk, Omsk, Orel, Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Sakhalin, Smolensk, Tambov, Tula and Tyumen regions; St. Petersburg, the KhantyMansi Autonomous Area-Yugra.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Picture 3 - Solid waste removal by subjects and cities of the Russian Federation Nowadays, the Russian Federation is transitioning to a new solid municipal waste management system. All activities become regulated by the state and completely transparent. A regional operator to handle solid municipal waste for 10 years, is selected on a competitive basis in each constituent entity of Russian Federation. The regional operator organizes a system for processing (sorting) of solid municipal waste or separate collection of solid municipal waste components, with subsequent disposal of the separated components. Also, targets are set for reducing the burial of solid municipal waste, prohibiting the burial of useful components of waste. All unauthorized waste disposal facilities must reclaimed. The solution of a number of issues (collection, safe disposal in the environment, large-scale utilization of solid municipal waste, that is, the beneficial use of such wastes or their destruction without causing significant harm to the environment) requires comprehensive and reliable accounting and statistical information at various stages of handling with relevant wastes of production and consumption. In the future, the tasks of accounting and statistics should be supplemented by tracking the extent and level of impact of the newly introduced environmental fee both on the dynamics of solid waste disposal and on the welfare of direct and indirect payers of this fee, also on budget revenues and expenditures (including additional subsidies to low-income families and individual citizens), and on the dynamics of arrears in payment of environmental charges and so on.
Nowadays, the Russian Federation is transitioning to a new solid municipal waste management system. All activities become regulated by the state and completely transparent. A regional operator to handle solid municipal waste for 10 years, is selected on a competitive basis in each constituent entity of Russian Federation. The regional operator organizes a system for processing (sorting) of solid municipal waste or separate collection of solid municipal waste components, with subsequent disposal of the separated components. Also, targets are set for reducing the burial of solid municipal waste, prohibiting the burial of useful components of waste. All unauthorized waste disposal facilities must reclaimed. All regions should switch to a new system by 01.01.2019. The waste management in the Russian Federation is divided into two parts: circulation of consumption wastes, which will be completely regulated by the state, and circulation of production wastes. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, the total value of accumulated and accounted production and consumption wastes in the whole of Russia at the end of 2015 was approximately 31.5 billion tons. This figure is approximate because of the objective difficulties in accounting for wastes, accumulated for many years ago, as well as in identifying decomposition, decline in quality, weathering, corrosion and overgrown with grass previously accumulated wastes. The overwhelming part of the accumulated and identified wastes belongs to the fifth hazard class, that is practically non-hazardous waste - 31.1 billion tons, or almost 99% to their total volume. The main trends that reflect the formation of production and consumption wastes in Russia over the past nine years are shown in picture 1. The corresponding data are taken from the summary reports of enterprises-nature users on the form of federal statistical observation № 2-tp (wastes) "Information on the formation, use, neutralization, transportation and disposal of production and consumption wastes". Collection and processing of data on this form is carried out in the system of The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Nature Management.
Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017 S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Picture 1 - Trends of formation of production and consumption wastes in Russia According to The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Nature Management, as of 01.01.2016, the total number of valid licenses (including issued earlier) in Russia, for activities in the field of waste management, is 11667. As a whole, the number of used and neutralized production and consumption wastes in the country increased almost twice from 2006 to 2015 years (picture 2). At the same time, the level of use (rendering harmless) of production and consumption wastes, in relation to the volume of their formation, increased from 40 % to 53 %.
Picture 2 - Dynamics of use and neutralization of production and consumption wastes in Russia The largest volume of waste processing is characteristic for the type of activity "extraction of
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
minerals". This sector accounts for over 90% of the total amount of used and neutralized waste in the Russian Federation. In their composition, the major part is occupied by empty and enclosing rocks, as well as wastes of enrichment (including sand, clays, rocks, slimes, etc.). On the second place on processing of a waste there are objects of processing manufactures. Handling of solid municipal waste in the Russian Federation In accordance with Federal law № 458 of 29th of December year 2014 "On amending the Federal law" On production and consumption wastes ", certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation and the recognition of certain legislative acts (provisions of legislative acts) of the Russian Federation as invalid", in the country at the official level, the term of "solid municipal waste" was introduced. However, by 2016-2017 years, relatively reliable and official information was available only for solid household wastes. Its collection and development for a long time have been and continue to be carried out in the system of state statistics bodies. In this regard, the corresponding analysis was made precisely on the basis of this information. In recent years, in Russia, the amount of annual removal of solid wastes from residential areas, has been estimated at a relatively small amount of about 1% in the composition of all wastes of production and consumption, generated annually. At the same time, the population faces with problems of environmental pollution household wastes almost everywhere, not only on the territory of cities and towns, but also in suburban zones, in forests, in areas of agricultural lands, etc. According to The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Nature Management, by the beginning of 2016 year in the country there were 743 registered objects with especially significant harmful effects on the environment - the so-called "hot spots". The 56% of these were landfills and solid waste dumps. In the year 2000, the total volume of solid waste removal in Russia as a whole was 152 million m3, in the year 2005 – 186 million m3, in the year 2010 – 235 million m3, in the year 2014 – 283 million m3 and in the year 2015 – 282 million m3. A relatively small part of the total volume of solid waste removal is delivered on the objects for waste processing and waste incineration. In particular, in the year 2015, about 21 million m3 (7% of the total volume of solid waste removal) were directed to waste processing facilities, and to waste incineration plants - less than 7 million m3 of solid waste (2.4%). It should be borne in mind, that in addition to solid wastes, from residential areas in year 2015, almost 42 million tones of liquid wastes were removed, and over 62 million m3 of snow, that fell out during the winter period, in many cases contaminated with various harmful impurities.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Table 1. The share of solid waste incineration in developed countries
Country
Population, mln
Switzerland Japan Denmark Sweden France Holland Germany Italy USA Spain England Russia (2015)
7 123 5 9 56 15 61 58 248 38 57 146
Number Solid of waste,million incineration tons/year plants 2,9 29 44,5 1900 2,6 32 2,7 21 18,5 100 71 9 40,5 51 15,6 51 180 168 11,8 21 35 7 182,3
Share of burned solid waste, in% 79 72 65 59 41 39 33 17 16 6 5 2,4
The share of burned solid waste in some countries reaches 70% or more: for example, in Switzerland - 79%, in Japan - 72%. These dumps and landfills are often sources of pollution by various harmful substances not only soil and land resources, but also: a) atmospheric air (including greenhouse gases) as a result of the decomposition of some wastes, difficultly extinguishing fires, etc .; b) water resources - in the first place, located in underground horizons - when filtering harmful substances from the surface of the earth. In addition, these objects can serve as a source of so-called "biological" pollution, because they contribute to the spread of rats, they are places of undesirable accumulation of birds, stray animals, etc. A significant negative impact on the environment is rendered by spontaneous (ownerless), relatively small, but numerous and difficultly controlled dumps of the waste. Garbage collected in the streets, contaminated snow and ice, fallen leaves, bark and wood waste from urban trees and bushes, mown grass and so on are an additional burden on the environment beyond the boundaries of many cities. In year 2015, in a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, solid municipal waste / solid household waste landfills and waste recycling complexes were commissioned. Active work in this area was done in: the Republics of Adygea, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Ingushetia, Komi, Mari El, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Udmurtia and Chuvash republics ; Krasnodar, Perm, Stavropol and Khabarovsk Territories; Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Vologda, Ivanovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Lipetsk, Murmansk, Omsk, Orel, Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Sakhalin, Smolensk, Tambov, Tula and Tyumen regions; St. Petersburg, the KhantyMansi Autonomous Area-Yugra.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Picture 3 - Solid waste removal by subjects and cities of the Russian Federation Nowadays, the Russian Federation is transitioning to a new solid municipal waste management system. All activities become regulated by the state and completely transparent. A regional operator to handle solid municipal waste for 10 years, is selected on a competitive basis in each constituent entity of Russian Federation. The regional operator organizes a system for processing (sorting) of solid municipal waste or separate collection of solid municipal waste components, with subsequent disposal of the separated components. Also, targets are set for reducing the burial of solid municipal waste, prohibiting the burial of useful components of waste. All unauthorized waste disposal facilities must reclaimed. The solution of a number of issues (collection, safe disposal in the environment, large-scale utilization of solid municipal waste, that is, the beneficial use of such wastes or their destruction without causing significant harm to the environment) requires comprehensive and reliable accounting and statistical information at various stages of handling with relevant wastes of production and consumption. In the future, the tasks of accounting and statistics should be supplemented by tracking the extent and level of impact of the newly introduced environmental fee both on the dynamics of solid waste disposal and on the welfare of direct and indirect payers of this fee, also on budget revenues and expenditures (including additional subsidies to low-income families and individual citizens), and on the dynamics of arrears in payment of environmental charges and so on.
