MINSK, 27 August (BelTA) – Belarus intends to achieve the 90% recycling rate of solid municipal waste by 2035, Belarus Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Andrei Khudyk said in an interview to BelTA.
“There are seven waste recycling plants (in Minsk, Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Baranovichi, and Novopolotsk) and 80 municipal waste sorting facilities. The construction of a waste sorting plant in Vitebsk with the capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year in nearing completion. In 2019, the recycling rate of solid municipal waste was 22.5%, which was 2.5 times higher than in 2010. We aim to reach 64% soon and bring this figure to 90% by 2035,” Andrei Khudyk said.
According to him, this requires the use of some technological solutions. Belarus should improve the separate waste collection system and introduce a deposit-refund system for single-use packaging management. The use of this system will enable to double the collection and recycling rate of drinks packaging and reduce the solid municipal waste burial rate by 10%. Plans are also in plans to set up inter-district facilities for municipal waste management, introduce composting technologies, start using refuse-derived fuel in cement production, and burn municipal waste to produce thermal and electric power. “We intend to establish a network of 30 modern interregional facilities for sorting, recycling, and eco-friendly disposal of solid municipal waste, including a facility for using it for energy production for Minsk,” the minister noted.
Belarus continues reducing the number of landfills that do not meet the legislation requirements. In the past five years, the total number of small landfills dropped by over 2.5 times. In 2019 alone, 345 such facilities were shut down and recultivated. Plans are in place to close all small landfills by 2022, Andrei Khudyk noted.
In addition, the Belarusian government decided to ban the use and sale of single-use plastic tableware in public catering facilities as of 1 January 2021. The country has introduced economic incentives for manufacturers and supplies to facilitate transition from plastic to paper or other eco-friendly packaging. Retail outlets will be required to offer non-alcoholic drinks in glass packaging, paper bags, single-use paper kitchenware and cutlery and reduce the range of plastic bags and kitchenware on offer.
