Separate garbage collection: to be or not to be in Russia
Recycling of waste becomes today in Russia a priority of state policy. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, about 5.4 billion tons of all types of waste are generated annually and about 375 million tons require special conditions for industrial processing. The concentration of substances, which is contained in the secondary raw materials and which can be applied in industrial production, sometimes many times exceeds that in natural resources. However, a serious problem prevents it from making the most of it - there is no centralized system for separate collection of garbage in the country.
In order to extract as much useful substances as possible from waste, it is best to separate them yourself, without relying entirely on automatic methods for sorting mixed waste. This task has been learned to effectively solve in developed countries. In Russia, attempts to introduce waste sorting have also previously been undertaken, but they were all local.
Now in our country we have seriously approached the problem of recycling garbage and approved territorial waste management schemes in all 85 regions of the country. However, while all the necessary conditions are only in 74 subjects. As of January 1, 2019, roadmaps for the transition to the new system will be made there.
The Ministry of Environment believes that we can arrange for sorting garbage faster than it was done in Germany and Japan , which spent 20–30 years to introduce it.
What experience can other countries share with us and what prevents the introduction of the system of selective garbage collection in Russia - in the TASS material.
Germany example
In Germany, separate collection of household waste began in the late 1980s. At that time, these issues were regulated by local (land) authorities. In 1996, a national law regulating waste management came into force (the new edition was adopted in 2012).
Currently, waste recycling in Germany is a profitable business. In 2017, the turnover of the waste recycling industry amounted to approximately € 70 billion, in this area more than 250 thousand people were employed. Duales System Holding GmbH & Co, founded in 1990, is the largest enterprise for the collection and processing of packaging materials. According to the latest report from Duales System, in 2016, 1.7 million tons of garbage was recycled. This avoided the emission of 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Since 2015, the country has a unified system for selective garbage collection. The Germans distribute household waste to biomass, waste paper, glass, metals and plastics. Separate multi-colored containers are installed for these types of garbage. For example, blue is intended for paper products (newspapers, magazines, cardboard boxes); yellow - for items marked with a green dot (means that manufacturers and trading companies have entered into an agreement with the Duales System and pay fees to organize the collection of recyclable packages); green for organic waste. Expired medicines are taken by pharmacies, for old batteries there are collection points in stores. Germany is the leader in domestic waste recycling in Europe - 66% of garbage is recycled here.
At the same time, European countries are constantly striving to improve the waste collection system, experts say.
In Europe, the emphasis is now being placed on introducing a separate collection of food waste, so that there is pure organic matter that can be used for compost production and to return this compost in order to improve soil fertility.
- Tatiana Nagorskaya, Chairman of the Board of the Association in the Field of Ecology and Environmental Protection "Shared sharing"
Japan example
Russia has a lot to learn from its eastern neighbor, Japan. Its inhabitants are extremely careful in preserving the environment. In the postwar period, against the backdrop of the beginning of economic recovery and the subsequent economic growth in the country, the problem of storing industrial and household waste arose. The lack of territory for the organization of landfills for storing garbage made the authorities pay considerable attention to technologies for its processing. In 2001, the Ministry of Environment Protection was created within the government of the country, which is responsible for waste management issues.
Currently in Japan there is a developed system of separate waste collection. Each municipality can set the standards for the treatment of garbage. As a rule, there are several categories of waste: combustible and non-combustible trash, plastic, paper, glass and plastic containers, suitable for reuse, and bulky waste.
Japan is one of the world leaders in plastics processing. Thus, the share of plastic, which is again used in production, increased from 39% (1996) to 83% (2014). This was facilitated by a law adopted in 1997, which for the first time obliged industry and households to separate polymers from other categories of garbage. According to statistics provided by the Japan Association of waste recycling, in 2014, a total of 1.43 million tons of various types of waste were recycled.
Industrial waste that is difficult to recycle is used as a building material. The international airports of Chubu (near the city of Nagoya) and Kansai (Osaka) were built on artificial islands created from shredded industrial waste.
Chubu Airport
By the way, some Japanese initiatives in the field of waste control, such as sports garbage collection championships, are already being used here. A similar contest, in which students, social activists, employees of oil industry enterprises and environmental organizations took part, was held in June 2016 in Tomsk. Its participants collected more than one ton of waste.
"In Japan, we have been holding tournaments since 2008. About 500 tournaments were held in total," said Kenichi Mamitsuk, founder of the movement and president of the Japan Sports Collection of Garbage.
According to him, the holding of such championships not only allows clearing the city of garbage, but also carries an important educational element. "Children who did not pay attention to the garbage, having once participated, in regular life themselves pick up garbage in the city," Mamitsuka stressed.
An interesting project is being prepared in Primorye. The company ABA-Trade and the Japanese Super Faiths have signed an agreement on the construction of a factory for the recycling of diapers and diapers into fuel.
"In Japan, great attention is paid to the reproduction of energy resources, this technology will appear on the Russian market for the first time and will allow us to quickly switch to separate collection of garbage and recycling of waste," said Alexander Palchikov, director of ABA-Trade.
Diapers decompose for a long time, emit harmful substances when burning. According to Palchikov, Japanese technology will allow the processing of diapers into fuel briquettes, which can be used both in boiler rooms and in private heating systems.
Despite the fact that the Japanese have taken the path of waste incineration, they tend to return resources to the production cycle and develop a cyclical economy. Recognizing that incineration is not really the right choice for the future, they produce separate waste collection, in some prefectures up to 36 fractions (allocated according to particle size or density of parts of the material. - Note TASS)
- Tatiana Nagorskaya
In general, the situation with the separate collection of waste and its further recycling in different countries is different. In many ways, it depends on the market, on the economic possibilities of the country. In the US, there are cities, such as San Francisco, where up to 80% of waste is recycled, and there are those where waste is collected less than in Russia, notes Nagorskaya.
Prospects for Russia
Foreign experience suggests that the introduction of separate garbage collection is possible with effective incentives that affect all participants in the waste management system. In some countries, for example, there are large fines for an incorrectly thrown cigarette butt or piece of paper, on the other hand, to encourage citizens to sort waste, the authorities reduce the cost of their removal.
They began to punish the ruble already in Russia, though, so far only manufacturers and importers.
In 2017, the Ministry of Environment as part of the separate waste collection program introduced an expanded responsibility institute. In fact, the business takes responsibility for recycling manufactured goods and packaging, obsolete, or paying an environmental fee. Collected as a result of the collection of funds amounted to more than 1.33 billion rubles.
In addition, the government imposed a ban on the disposal of certain types of waste. Thus, since 2018, the dumping of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, waste containing mercury is prohibited. Since 2019 - the burial of waste paper, cardboard and paper packaging, tires and tires, polyethylene and plastic packaging, glass and glass packaging, since 2021 - computer and office equipment, batteries and household appliances. Total 182 points.
At the same time, citizens are planned to be encouraged for separate garbage collection. For example, the Minister of Ecology and Nature Management of the Moscow Region, Alexander Kogan, said that residents who will not separately collect waste will pay the full tariff, and for those who have separate garbage collection, the tariff will be differentiated.
Pilot projects on separate waste collection are already running in 13 municipalities of the region. And the Moscow Region Mytischi has already managed to lead the rating of Greenpeace Russia on the development of separate garbage collection. In 2019, the entire region should switch to this system.
Back in 2012, an experiment was started in Moscow on separate garbage collection. Initially, it was tested on residents of the south-west of the capital. Transparent mesh containers for "useful waste" were installed in their yards: paper, plastic, glass and metal. The experiment proved itself well, and it was decided to expand its territory. Now, almost every metropolitan courtyard has its own transparent garbage cans. And only with rare exceptions can they see household garbage. According to experts, not only Moscow, but the whole country is moving towards a unified waste collection system. Already in many cities there are recycling points . And used batteries and lamps can be put in special bins, which are installed in many stores.
Supermarkets also joined the struggle for ecology. For example, in the stores "Auchan" there are no more free plastic bags . In the network of shops "Taste Will" from 2018, all packages also became paid. Now the store offers its customers reusable spunbond bags. Spunbond is environmentally friendly, practical to use, recyclable. The chain of IKEA stores refused to sell plastic bags in 2014. Instead, customers are offered paper bags, as well as reusable polypropylene bags and textile bags with prints. IKEA, by the way, accepts used paper bags from customers and later sends them for recycling.
The LavkaLavka farmers' cooperative followed the same example: from the very opening, the bags were not sold here, offering reusable bags and paper bags to customers.
These examples give hope that in Russia in the near future, a unified system of separate collection of garbage will work. Although some skeptics believe that our mentality can interfere with this - it is believed that the Russians will not install several tanks in their kitchen and lay out paper, glass, food debris in them. In addition, there are also objective difficulties - in our apartments there is not always a place where you can put two or three containers for collecting different types of waste. Nevertheless, public opinion polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of Russians are aware of the importance of sorting garbage and are ready for its separate collection, the main thing is to organize this process, creating the necessary conditions.
Many say that Europe has come to this for several decades, it has been happening for a long time, but the world is completely different now. Many Russians were in Europe and saw what it is, what it leads to, that it’s clear that the people are participating, everyone follows some rules and it’s not at all difficult. Another thing is that the residents, of course, must somehow be stimulated, and if there is an intelligible mechanism to show them that, for example, this bucket with sorted recyclables does not cost you anything, but let's say the exact same tank, if you put everything together, it will be expensive for you, this practice will, of course, be easier to implement. According to my estimates, according to my colleagues, it is enough five years to ensure that the system has already reached the normal level - that is, it would be possible to work not in the implementation mode, but in the normal operation mode.
- Tatiana Nagorskaya
Of course, it depends on the region, said Nagorskaya. “Let's say there are many processing enterprises in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and recycling is scarce, but there are also remote regions where this problem should also be solved, because all Russian people should be able to take part in improving the environmental component. This is a complex problem, and measures that are taken at the federal level should, by and large, be the same for everyone, "she explains.
The capital authorities agree with such forecasts. Moscow expects to work on the system of separate collection of garbage by 2020–2021, after the infrastructure for sorting and recycling begins to appear in 2019, head of the Department of Environmental Management and Environmental Protection of Moscow Anton Kulbachevsky said.
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