Two buckets in the kitchen”: how to organize separate waste collection in Russia
Against the background of the developing environmental crisis in the Moscow region, they are increasingly talking about the need to radically change the attitude of Russians towards the management of household waste. Obviously, new landfills and waste incineration plants will not solve the problem, while creating a full-fledged infrastructure for recycling may take more time, but it will really be able to save the region from repeating the situation with “Jadrovo”. However, a lot here depends on the residents themselves: efficient processing of garbage and the creation of a new product from recyclable materials are impossible without separate waste collection, which so far in the eyes of many Russians looks like a waste of time and effort. The head of the Resource Saving Center, Alina Kolovska, told how with the help of two garbage cans in the kitchen, the ecological situation in the region can be changed over time and why the alternative that the authorities offer to the residents of the Moscow region will only aggravate the problem of landfills.
- After the situation with “Yadrovo”, everyone again says that it is necessary to introduce waste recycling technologies and their separate collection in Russia. What does this chain look like - from the bin to the new product?
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- In brief, it looks like this: we sort waste at home, then we transfer it to the supplier. These are organizations, both large and small, that do not recycle waste, but only collect, additionally sort, compress and form large volumes of recycled materials - plastic bottles separately, white glass separately, green separately, paper of different grades is also separate. These collectors have large areas - they accumulate tons of various recycled materials. When a certain volume is accumulated, which is profitable for sale, they transfer this recyclable material to a specific processor: paper leaves for one plant, glass for another. And those, in turn, make of them either intermediate raw materials or finished products. For example, paper. At those enterprises that we have in Russia, cardboard is made of paper, roofing felt, toilet paper. There are enterprises that make paper fiber, from which the substrates for vegetables, paper holders are obtained. Or, for example, aluminum. Aluminum is a rather expensive recyclable material, because it is perfectly melted without loss of quality: aluminum ingots are made of aluminum or pulled onto a foil.
- We are about to imagine the harm caused by landfills and incinerators. Are sorting stations and processing plants safe for residents? There have been cases when protests were also being protested in Moscow Region against waste recycling near the city.
- Such threats as landfills and incinerators, they do not carry. It is important for the residents not only to protest, but to offer the authorities to set up the infrastructure for separate collection - to install special containers, enter into contracts with suppliers, who can take it out correctly. Waste sorting stations or waste recycling plants do not threaten residents - recycling is simply dismantled and processing is in progress - in fact, crushing and remelting, as a result of which no hazardous substances are formed. If we are talking about paper, then in this case the paper pulp is crushed in an aqueous solution to produce cellulose, and then - the removal of this water and the formation of a sheet. There are no incineration processes, no processes as a result of which substances come out of the waste and begin to travel around the environment. The processing plant is no more dangerous than any jeans factory and any ordinary enterprise. Landfills and incinerators themselves are very dangerous. And if we burn garbage, then dangerous substances are formed that go into the air. If we are engaged in the burial of waste, everything falls into the ground and water. Of course, there are technologies that allow to minimize the danger from factories and landfills, but they are not used here.
- Do you understand how many people are engaged in separate waste collection? Are there any good examples where the necessary infrastructure was built and works successfully?
- I have been dealing with the problem of separate waste collection since 2006: first, as part of a local action at my work place and in Bitsevsky Park, then, from 2011, already within the framework of our organization. In my subjective assessment, from 2011 to today the situation has changed dramatically: the number of people involved is growing, the attitude of business towards segregation is changing, a lot of companies have been introducing it in recent years. At the same time, I do not think that it is strongly connected with the year of ecology (2017 was declared the Year of Ecology in Russia - MBH Media ), rather, it is a global trend: at the international level, the problems of climate change and environmental pollution were recognized. Today it is important to be able to adapt to these conditions, and separate collection of waste is a measure that penetrates deep into the masses and is understandable enough to people. There are successful cases in Russia - for example, Saransk or Rybinsk, where in a few years everything that was really needed for a complete chain of recycling really appeared.
- Creating such an infrastructure is still the task of the authorities or, as a rule, the initiative of citizens?
- In fact, a lot depends on the administration, on its openness and readiness to work in this direction. But people can direct and demand it from her, then the administration will have no choice. Now, residents of the Moscow region are indignant about the landfills - they are being closed down, equipment being brought in to them, which helps to neutralize harmful emissions from landfills. Therefore, the people should demand from the authorities to establish a normal infrastructure, including connecting to the service not some of their own municipal enterprises, but those organizations that are engaged in separate waste collection, those who will take it carefully and continue to work with it. There are such organizations, there are many of them, you just need to require the administration to enter into agreements with them. We have in the Moscow region more than 400 waste recycling enterprises, in the whole country there are more than 1,500, and none of them is operating at full capacity. There is rubbish for them, you just need to create an infrastructure and send recycled flows to these plants.
- How to organize a separate collection in an ordinary apartment? Many who are going to arrange this at home, immediately face the problem - where in the small kitchen to place a few bins?
- We have seen enough of a separate collection abroad, and it seems to us that it always means 5-6 containers for paper, glass, plastic, organic and so on. In fact, to start the recycling process, it is enough to divide the waste into two streams - collect organic materials in one container, and everything else that can be recycled: glass, plastic, metal, and paper into the other container. One car will arrive, which will pick up the container only with recyclables. On the procurement bases, all this mass will be sorted into fractions. If such garbage does not mix with food, then separate the glass jar from the metal - a simple task. But if the garbage is mixed and organic is present in it, it is very difficult to sort - both for people and for equipment that simply does not recognize what it is. Waste from the second bucket - for organic waste - should ideally be composting. In a good way, one of the requirements for the authorities should also be organic composting facilities. It can be used to make a nutrient substrate for use in agriculture, for sprinkling the earth. It is necessary to put just a special installation with certain bacteria. This is a separate technology that we also need to develop.
- Today, environmental education in our country is mainly engaged in public organizations and activists. In European countries, this is done, first of all, by the state - programs on television, lessons in schools, social advertising. And we see the results - the system of separate collection in the West really works. Is such a scenario real in Russia?
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- Such things, of course, should go from the state. We, as a public organization, can provide the necessary content, and the state only needs to ensure its distribution. Of course, the state has such opportunities that no one else has. How much time can it take to understand the need for this? Unclear. It depends on the desire and our efforts - it may be 20 years, and maybe 4 years. Of course, problems should be solved on all sides - first of all, honest organizations should deal with garbage. Now, for example, regional waste management operators for the Moscow region have become known - these are the companies that will be responsible for our waste for the next 10 years. And there is a big danger, because companies that actively lobby incineration are chosen. Already in May, public hearings will be held in Solnechnogorsk where they will coordinate construction of an incinerator. There, all the documentation, it turns out, is ready and in 2022 it is planned to start the plant.
- And what can residents do in such a situation when it is obvious to everyone that the decision has already been made?
- It is important to come to public hearings, to express disagreement with the construction of these plants. At the legislative level, there are certain mechanisms that involve consideration of public opinion. Of course, the situation here can be exactly the same as with the elections - when, despite the opinion of the public, a different decision is made. But here, perhaps, not such a high level, and there is an opportunity to influence something. It is important to disagree, it is important to defend their interests and come to the hearing.
It is very important to disagree with what is happening and with what we are offered in return. Public attention to the problem of landfills increased after the protests in Volokolamsk. There have always been problems with the “Yadrovo” training ground many years ago. Until recently, in the suburbs there were 100 polygons. The residents were outraged - there were 22. And it seems to everyone that serious work was done, the authorities went to meet the residents. But those polygons that still work cannot cope with such volumes of garbage. For the authorities, the most obvious solution to this problem is to build incinerators and open new landfills. But after a few years we will be back where we started.
At the same time, local residents can take this positive attitude - in Volokolamsk, the authorities will close down “Yadrovo”, where people will be satisfied. And the fact that in Narofominsk will open a new incinerator, and in Sergiev Posad - a new landfill, no one cares. It is necessary to show people sound logic, demonstrate an alternative, and at the same time explain where the authorities powder the brain, and where not.
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