Tajikistan’s waste collection and recycling market is underregulated, believes Anisa Abibulloeva, environmental activist and graduate of the CABAR.asia school of analytics. In her opinion, this creates both risks and opportunities for the different parties involved in this process — waste collectors, the state, and civil society.
Containers for medical waste disposal. Photo: UNDP in Tajikistan
Many studies in developing countries argue that the spontaneous waste management (SWM) sector emerges and develops when centralised management fails to cope with the disposal of waste streams.
In Dushanbe, the failure of municipal services to provide proper waste management has led to the development of the spontaneous waste management sector. The main traded and sought-after recyclable items among solid waste are paper and plastic.
The State Unitary Enterprise “Housing and Communal Services” is responsible for the centralised solid waste management system. In the capital city, all collected waste is sent to a municipal landfill. There are no centralised methods of separating, composting or recycling in the country.
The landfill, which is an unauthorised disposal site, was established in 1978 and is located 11 km from Dushanbe on the road to the nearby town of Vahdat. In 2019, more than 315 thousand tons of waste was generated in Dushanbe alone, which is more than 30% of all waste generated in Tajikistan.
Due to poor municipal strategies for solid waste disposal, uncontrolled, so-called abandoned waste is generated, which overflows the street waste bins. This makes litter easily accessible to potential collectors.
Also, in many developing countries, a significant driver of a dynamic SWM system is the surplus of the unskilled and semi-skilled workforce within the unemployment condition and income situation that exceeds the official minimum wage.
The World Bank study also highlights that Tajikistan’s economy is not creating enough jobs for a rapidly growing labour force. Therefore, human capital, the most valuable asset in the country, is significantly underutilised. As a result, an informal market has been developed around waste recycling.
The primary legislation for waste management is set out in the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on “Production and Consumption Waste” (dated 28.06.11, No. 736). The main acts on solid municipal waste are stipulated in Article 4 — Fundamental principles of the state policy in the field of waste management. Intriguingly, the law describes the term ‘orphaned waste’ and its management in detail: “orphaned waste is waste that has no owner, or whose owner is unknown”.
The law also emphasises that:
“A waste producer acquires ownership of waste from the moment of its generation and until it is transferred to another person or until processing or complete disposal of waste in order … Local executive bodies of state power are obliged to take measures to identify the owner of the ownerless waste, determine the hazard level, organize accounting of ownerless waste and make decisions regarding its management in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan”.
This law states that once a consumer throws away accumulated waste, ownership of this waste is automatically transferred to the responsible authorities, in this case, the housing and communal services. Consequently, the activity of waste collectors, who collect waste from the common trash stream, is a violation of this law.
However, the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Environmental Protection (2017, No. 1449), Article 16 specifies that state support should be provided for entrepreneurial, innovative and other activities that utilise secondary resources and recycle waste. Although, there is no interpretation of what type of support is to be provided.
The concept of an informal market for collecting and recycling waste.
The UNEP report defines municipal solid waste (MSW) management in the informal sector as the activities of the small-scale private sector (micro-enterprises, families, individuals) in waste management services. These activities are usually labour-intensive, not financed, not managed and not part of the formal MSW management sector.
Individuals and groups working in this sector do not pay taxes, they are excluded from public social security or insurance, and they are not licensed to sell or trade recyclable materials.
Waste collectors mainly pick up the ‘sweet’ part of the rubbish that is in demand in the market: clean bags, plastic bottles, cardboard, and paper. Glass is not recycled in Dushanbe. Scrap metal collectors are not included in this category.
Recycled plastic is used to make a synthetic thread, and recycled pellets for making buckets, basins and hoses. Recycled paper is mainly used to make toilet paper and boxes. The final recycled material is sold in the local market or exported.
Although most of the informal recycling sector in Dushanbe is in an off-the-books economy, some of the recycling companies that buy recyclable materials are officially registered.
Why wouldn’t all recycling plants want to operate legally?
To run a business officially in Tajikistan, it is necessary to obtain the relevant documents and pay taxes. To officially register a recycling business, a licence from the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies and a licence from the Committee of Environmental Protection (CEP) must be obtained.
These processes create additional costs. Therefore, officially registered MSW recycling companies often cannot compete with the informal recycling market due to a lack of investment and human resources. Therefore, entrepreneurs often prefer to enter this market unofficially.
Waste collectors’ contribution to a centralised MSW system
The market for waste collection and recycling has enormous development potential with the support of the government. Around the world, litter collectors on average collect 50-100% of waste in urban areas of low-income countries at no cost to the municipality.
For instance, waste scavengers in Jakarta, Buenos Aires and Mumbai are estimated to generate an economic benefit of more than US$880 million annually. Moreover, proper development of the waste sorting and recycling market can create jobs and lead to the development of a new industrial sector.
Recycling by waste collectors saves public resources by reducing the amount of waste that needs to be collected, transported and dumped in landfills. For example, in Jakarta, Indonesia, waste pickers reduce the volume of the rubbish by 30%, which saves the municipality the cost of labour, equipment, and fuel for transport as well as extending the lifespan of landfills.
It should be noted that we do not have sufficient data to estimate in monetary terms the approximate size of the waste market in Tajikistan.
Recommendations
To the government and the executive bodies
As the experience of European countries shows, the government should provide support for efficient waste collection and sorting. The tools can be different: tariff policy, preferential loans, direct subsidies, and extended producer responsibility mechanism.
But first and foremost, to develop effective MSW management instruments, the composition of waste needs to be understood and possible solutions highlighted accordingly. There is a lack of reliable data on the amount of waste generated, collected, transported and disposed of in the country, which does not allow a sufficient assessment of the current situation in the field of waste management. Therefore, first of all, the Statistical Agency together with the CEP should review the current waste management data collection mechanism to provide reliable and accessible information.
In general, if waste is sorted in a centralised manner by category, the amount of recycled material can be increased. Clean recyclables have added value and are in more demand on the market — they are easier to recycle. When recyclable materials are recovered from mixed waste, they lose their economic value or cannot be recycled at all. For instance, soaked waste paper is not recyclable, and dirty plastic can be worth half as much.
One of the most common tools to improve MSW management in the CIS is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and government incentive programmes. Under the EPR, the company producing a product must be responsible for the entire life cycle of the product in the market, including its recycling. Among the CIS countries, the EPR system has already been adopted in Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Although MSW recycling rates remain relatively low in these countries, many have significantly improved the situation with the management of MSW.
In Kazakhstan, for example, following the adoption of the EPR in 2016, 12,196 containers for the separate collection were installed in 10 regions during 2018-2019. Also, Kazakhstan has been able to create a favourable business environment for eco-businesses. For instance, the business of waste sorting and recycling is included in the list of priority sectors of the state programme “Business Road Map 2025“. The state programme envisages several measures to support eco-businesses: grants, subsidies, the opening of credit lines and the purchase of necessary equipment.
Belarus adopted the EPR In 2012, and five years later a National Strategy for Solid Waste Management was developed, which is based on the principles of the EPR. The EPR is regulated by Presidential Decree No. 16 of 17 January 2020 “On improvement of the procedure for waste and package management.” Waste recycling plants are operating in almost all large and medium-sized cities in the country. Whereas in 2010, only 8.9% of solid municipal waste was recycled, by the end of 2019, 22.5% of municipal waste was already recycled and 2-2.5% is being added to this number every year.
Another recommendation considers the integration of the existing market into centralised municipal solid waste management. Existing recycling and waste sorting systems create an opportunity rather than a problem, as recycling operations are already established and can be expanded. One of the most common ways to economically integrate SWM is through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
In a PPP, the government enters into an agreement with private recycling companies for joint management. The municipality should create the necessary infrastructure to facilitate waste sorting for residents. At the same time, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the importance of waste sorting. Local and international NGOs can be involved.
The waste sorting and recycling sector needs infrastructure, which requires large investments. The cost of a waste recycling plant depends on the capacity and the types of raw materials used. On average, the returns on investment for small and medium-sized recycling plants can range from 1 to 2-3 years considering the positive economic growth in this area of activity.
To private factories
Private waste management operators are advised to formally employ waste collectors. The collectors are trained workers, they understand the types of waste and are handy at sorting it. The World Bank emphasises that PPPs are one of the most effective methods to improve affordable MSW services among urban communities with limited financial resources.
For example, the PPP strategy has been successfully implemented and is operating in Argentina.
A well-structured PPP in the case of Dushanbe can lead to significant efficiency improvements in the quality of MSW disposal. The municipality should consider the volume and composition of the existing waste stream, capitalize on the appropriate technologies, ensure strict compliance with environmental law standards and engage the communities.
Private waste management operators are advised to formally employ waste collectors. The collectors are trained workers, they understand the types of waste and are handy at sorting it. The World Bank emphasises that PPPs are one of the most effective methods to improve affordable MSW services among urban communities with limited financial resources.
For example, the PPP strategy has been successfully implemented and is operating in Argentina.
A well-structured PPP in the case of Dushanbe can lead to significant efficiency improvements in the quality of MSW disposal. The municipality should consider the volume and composition of the existing waste stream, capitalize on the appropriate technologies, ensure strict compliance with environmental law standards and engage the communities. It is important to identify and analyse the availability of private partner recycling facilities and allocate responsibilities, to provide incentives that will make the system attractive and reliable to private recyclers and waste collectors.
The recycling business also has the potential to expand, but it depends to a large extent on prices and the availability of recyclable materials on the market. Recycling activities on both sides are recognised as profitable and therefore the municipality should consider establishing a joint MSW management system in Dushanbe.
Other recommendations include improvement of data collection on waste management and transparency of information at the private level and development of appropriate policies based on economic models.
To the local community
A waste recycling and sorting system is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to MSW management than the current landfilling. But recycling does not fully solve the problem of waste disposal and the problems of over-consumption. The hierarchy of waste management shows that the first step is to prevent the generation of waste, reuse existing goods and then move on to recycling. The urban population, therefore, needs to change its consumption patterns and become more conscious of natural resources.
It is recommended to sort waste at an individual level. At almost every waste collection site, some of it is sorted by waste collectors. Waste groups (plastic bottles, bags, containers, paper, cardboard) can be pre-cleaned and sorted next to the waste bins and not disposed of in the main trash cans. Waste paper can also be taken to reception points throughout the city.
Источник: https://axil-is.com/blogs-articles/waste-management-hierarchy/
Conclusion
As the population grows, the living standards and consumption levels rise, and the overall volume of waste will also continue to increase. Especially with the growth in the production and consumption of one-way containers and packages, most of which are not suitable for recycling at all. In addition, the construction boom that is taking place in the capital, generating construction waste, is exacerbating the existing problems of MSW management.
The World Bank warns that by 2050 global waste production will rise to 70 per cent above current levels unless urgent action is taken.
Meanwhile, landfills poison soil, water and air with highly toxic substances. The Dushanbe landfill continues to stockpile waste and the more it becomes, the more expensive it will be to maintain the operation of the landfill. Without proper MSW management reforms, the capital will soon face a litter crisis.
The key to successful MSW management is to change mindsets and behavioural patterns to improve overall waste management. A strengthened environmental culture, a sense of responsibility, and greater awareness are needed.
For successful waste management, all stakeholders must be involved in the process.
Initiatives to improve the culture of waste management can be taken by central or local authorities, civil society organisations, active citizens’ groups and volunteers. Most importantly, legislation, investment and infrastructure need to keep pace with the real challenges of MSW management and adopt effective reforms promptly. The state needs to ensure that legislation is properly enforced and the private and civil sectors in turn need to lend their support.