"Drop the European habits." As Saransk still began to sort the garbage
Separate tanks for plastic and cardboard in each yard - a typical picture for Saransk. For several years in a row, he has become the winner of the contest of the most comfortable cities in Russia according to Rosstroy. In another rating compiled by Greenpeace Russia, Saransk received the title of the most convenient city for separate garbage collection.
The RIA Novosti correspondent visited the capital of Mordovia and found out how the authorities managed to teach the citizens to sort waste at home and what prevents entrepreneurs from developing in the "garbage business".
The Ministry of Environment proposes to introduce benefits for the rent for the sorting of garbage Citizens of Russia, who will sort the waste, before sending them into the trash can pay a smaller amount for utilities.
"Russians are not forced to share garbage"
In one of the courtyards of Saransk, a man leaves the porch and heads for the garbage yard. He throws one bag into a gray tank, and empty bottles and plastic packages into a net yellow. Other residents repeat this "ritual": cardboard - in one container, bottles - in another, and the rest of the garbage - in the third.
“It was not difficult to get used to this: for several years I put paper and plastic next to the trash can in the kitchen and in the mornings I put everything in the garbage can. Remember how they threw garbage from the bucket into the tank earlier? Terribly unhygienic. Then they all switched to packages. And now the hand will not rise to throw out something plastic together with scraps. You feel like a progressive citizen, "explains Eugene.
Until 2012, in Saransk, as elsewhere, garbage was thrown into one container. Then a waste sorting private company came to the city and offered its services to the city hall. Together with the municipal enterprise (MUP), businessmen organized a unified organization, and from that moment on, work began on cleaning Saransk.
The company director Svetlana Bigessa meets us in the center and proposes to conduct on container sites in different parts of the city.
“Our company didn’t settle here right away,” the director recalls. “We came to different cities, mostly looking at where the situation with waste collection was stalemate. In most regions, we were laughed at and denied, saying:“ you quit introducing these European habits, Russians never in their life be forced to share the garbage. "Only in Saransk agreed."
The company took responsibility for the entire collection of waste and entered into contracts for the maintenance of the enterprises of the city. In exchange, local authorities provided the material and technical base and staff. Gradually outdated metal tanks were replaced by plastic, increased their number. Now in Saransk, where only 330 thousand people live, 700 containers have been installed. Of these, 520 - to collect paper, cardboard and film, the rest - for plastic bottles.
On each tank it is drawn that where you need to put, you will not go wrong. For convenience, even the windows are made on the covers.
New jacket - from a plastic bottle
We come to the courtyard, where there are several simple tanks and two color ones. They are devastated daily, moreover, at each site scavengers are four times. Looking inside - the waste is really categorized.
Bulky waste and non-recyclable waste are shipped first. After - cardboard, paper and plastic. Then a team of janitors works at the site, they sweep within a radius of five meters, sometimes they even wash tanks.
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Then comes the auditor, who monitors all the objects in the city and controls the quality of work. Additionally, drivers of cars are obliged to photograph the site before and after the removal of waste, and in the evening send pictures to the dispatchers.
After inspecting several sites, we go to the sorting line outside the city, where we collect the collected paper and plastic.
Here, employees manually fold raw materials on a conveyor belt under a press. Finished compressed bales are sent to processing plants, where wallpaper, notebooks, and wrapping paper are produced from them. Plastic is used to make new packaging, paving tiles, blankets, carpets, and even clothes.
Due to the sorting, only organic garbage gets to the landfill - food residues, rags. Such waste decomposes faster than plastic and paper, does not take up much space and does not harm the environment.
About the power of habit
Svetlana says that at first citizens burned and stole containers - such a “strength test” cost the company almost a million rubles in losses. She recalls how the first years of the inhabitants stubbornly "protested" and threw garbage at random. The contents of all containers had to be taken away to the landfill, and the plant was still waiting for the first full batches for sorting.
Residents, according to the director, invented various reasons not to divide waste, for example, they complained that in their small kitchen there was no place for a second bin.
At one of the landfills, pensioner Tamara Nikolaevna grumbles that there are too many tanks, although she admits that the city has become cleaner. "I have a bit of garbage, but I still go outside once more and carry the bottle into a separate box. It only seems that nothing will change from one garbage bag, but you can see how comfortable it is now," the pensioner rejoices.
The Ministry of Environment has demanded the elimination of illegal dumps in Lyubertsy. Ekonadzor inspectors conducted an inspection on the treatment of a resident of Lyubertsy.
Volunteers from the “Eco” federal movement volunteered to help overcome the habit from the very beginning. One of its participants, Victoria Ozerina, says she learned about separate garbage collection when she was in school. At first the girl taught all household waste to sorting, and then she set about educating classmates and neighbors.
"Only my mother resisted for a long time, saying that the container was too far from home and it was difficult for her to walk. But my power of conviction won," says Vika.
Connected to the work of volunteers and local authorities. According to Victoria, the Saransk Department of Social Policy and the Department of Education agreed
work with schools and kindergartens. Emphasis is placed on children and young people, so that at home they would talk about recycling to their parents.
“The authorities are very kind to the image of Saransk. Next year there will be the World Cup and Mordovia should shine,” the volunteer said.
“Gradually, year after year, everything became cleaner, and now there are almost no cases when other waste gets into a container with a yellow lid. So, the situation has changed, and then it will be easier,” rejoices Victoria.
Old laws and competition
An example of Saransk is rather a rarity for Russia. Now, according to activists, the maximum that can be achieved is to organize a separate collection of garbage in one yard. Svetlana Bigesse complains that the old norms of SanPiN, which have lost their relevance, still exist in Russia. Secondly, she notes, there are no government sources of funding. According to her, private business in Saransk pays off by selling raw materials for recycling, but this money is barely enough.
“Convincing people that separating garbage is important is not the main task,” says the entrepreneur. “Legally, mechanisms for supporting garbage-sorting companies have not been thought out yet, while in other countries they live off tax deductions.”
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