Rustam Minnikhanov takes part in a videoconference held by Dmitry Medvedev on handling municipal solid waste

On December 18, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov took part in a videoconference held by Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on handling municipal solid waste (MSW).

The Prime Minister said that less than 10 per cent of waste is processed in the country today. At the same time, in most developed economies, 60 to 80 per cent of solid municipal waste is processed.

He noted that today it is necessary to establish a branch of industry for the processing of industrial and household waste from scratch. In particular, it is necessary to organize regular garbage collection, build hundreds of sorting stations, hundreds of disposal complexes, many waste recycling plants, and equip environmental technology parks, where all these facilities will be located. Medvedev added that the transition to a new waste management system should be fairly smooth without sharp increase in tariffs.

According to the Prime Minister, the regions will have the right to choose operators for organizing the collection and recycling of garbage without tendering.

Medvedev went on to say that the Russian government has taken a number of measures to reduce the tariff for garbage pickup. In particular, operators will be able to use landfills that are not included in the register of Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage to reduce their transportation costs.