Waste management in post-soviet countries: how far from the EU?

Abstract

After the collapse of the Soviet system, every new independent state selected its own way of development, own goals and speed of transformation. Dramatic changes were linked not only to the political and economic sphere, but also to environmental governance as a whole and waste management in particular. 25 years later the authors looked at 6 post-soviet countries and analysed the situation in the sector of municipal solid waste management by comparing this with EU member states (some of them have a socialistic past). We used BiPRO approach (BiPRO, 2012) and looked for answers related to the question: how far developed is the current state of waste management in post-soviet countries compared to EU members? Which factors define the potential efficiency of waste management system and its full conformity with the situation in “old” EU member states? The overall scores of 6 post-soviet countries range from 2 (Georgia) to 11 (Belarus). The common reasons for these low scores in all mentioned countries are weak waste management policies, and landfilling as a main way of waste disposal, the lack of economic instruments for stimulating reducing of waste generation and recycling, as well as underdeveloped infrastructure for waste treatment facilities. Specific problems for post-soviet countries are, for example, the high share of landfilled biodegradable waste, incomplete coverage of waste collection systems, the lack of forecasting of waste quantities and planning of waste management, preserved obsolete soviet approach to tariff policy, statistical accounting and administrative procedures in the sector of waste management. The improvement of waste management systems should aim at the legislative ban on the disposal of municipal solid waste at landfills, the re-establishment of a separate waste collection system (disestablished after USSR collapse), the establishment of economic and financial mechanisms supporting the waste processing sector and stimulating the population to reduce waste generation.