In 2016, solid household waste generation volumes in Ukraine comprised 49 million cubic meters or about 11 million tons. In spite of the fact that Ukrainian population has been constantly decreasing over the past 20 years, garbage generation volumes are increasing, amounting to 250-300 kg per person annually.
In 2016, only 5.8% of generated household waste were recycled, while the rest was brought to landfills. In 2016, 5,470 landfills were registered in Ukraine; 305 of them are overloaded, and 1,646 do not meet environmental safety standards. The country needs to build at least 464 new landfills.
Why is the situation catastrophic? Our country does not have national and regional waste management plans. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the National Waste Management Strategy only at the end of 2017. Local authorities establish either unreasonable tariffs for solid household waste collecting services (too high level of profitability, additional costs) or the tariffs that are not economically justified. Moreover, local authorities are delaying the creation of a mechanism for setting up the price of both household waste recycling and disposal services for business entities. Landfills are full, but they are still being used. Due to imperfect organizational and economic principles of using recycled materials in production, only a small percentage of garbage is sorted.
We in the BRDO are not happy with the situation. Therefore, we are initiating a review of the state policy in the waste management sector. Stay tuned.