A part of the funds allocated by the authorities and international organisations for the safe disposal of millions of mercury-containing lamps (light bulbs) in Tajikistan was not used for its intended purpose, as the results of the journalistic investigation by CABAR.asia show. Used mercury-containing lamps are disposed of in general landfills, which poses a threat to human health.
Mercury-containing energy-saving lamps became widely used in Tajikistan after President Emomali Rahmon’s decree in April 2009. The document obligated all enterprises and organisations to switch to such lamps for energy-saving purposes. The decree also stated that the import of regular incandescent light bulbs, which relatively consumed a lot of electricity, would be limited.
After the decree was issued, state media launched a large-scale advertising campaign about the benefits of energy-saving mercury-containing lamps. At that time, almost nothing was said about the mercury present in these lamps which could be dangerous to people under certain conditions. The experts recommended that mercury-containing lamps be disposed of using a special procedure and not in general waste collection areas.
In response, the government of Tajikistan adopted a resolution – “Procedures of waste mercury lamps collection from the population, legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, storage, transportation, disposal” in 2011.
Based on the document, local government bodies and housing and utility services were required to collect and recycle energy-saving light bulbs from residents and enterprises. Apart from the authorities, some enterprises also started collecting energy-saving lamps. In particular, businessman Akhror Rahimov collected hundreds of lamps in Isfara city and stored them in a warehouse.
How Did Energy-Saving Lamps Become the Cause of Corruption?
However, the investigation showed that the main issue – the safe disposal of mercury-containing lamps – has not yet been resolved and the efforts in this direction have not been successful. One of the reasons is corruption.
An open joint-stock company “Charog” works in Isfara city, Sughd region, which, according to the Tax Committee, produces lighting equipment. This enterprise is owned by the state; its founder is the State Committee on Investment and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan.
A reliable source told CABAR.asia that in 2019, the government of Tajikistan allocated 750 thousand somoni ($79,535) to Charog OJSC for the purchase of a device for mercury lamp demercurisation. According to the same source, in 2019, three tranches were received into the bank account of Charog OJSC.
The first tranche in the amount of 70 thousand somoni ($7,415) was received on July 18 and the second tranche in the amount of 322,500 somoni ($34,163) – on July 25. Of the total amount, 392,500 somoni ($41,579) was paid to cover the previous tax debt of Charog OJSC. Thus, initially, more than half of the government grant funds were spent for other purposes.
On December 28, 2019, the third tranche in the amount of 357,500 somoni ($36,931) was transferred to the bank account of Charog OJSC. From this amount, 10,500 somoni ($1,084) were paid to banking services and tax debts. The remaining 347,000 somoni ($35,847) were transferred to the Charog OJSC fund.
According to our source, the inspectors of the anti-corruption body also established that Bilol Makhkamov, the ex-head of Charog OJSC, withdrew 347 thousand somoni ($35,847) from the company’s account on December 30, 2019, and brought it out to Russia to purchase equipment.
Our source said that, according to the contract, FID-D Venture Company LLC (Dubna, Russia) was supposed to supply the Charrog OJSC with a demercurisation unit URL-2M for the amount of 5,970,000 rubles ($96,241). According to our source, the Charog company was supposed to receive the device after a 70% prepayment.
The auditors of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption of the Republic of Tajikistan established that Bilol Makhkamov provided a written receipt stating that Ilhom Gaibulloevich Abdulloev, General Director of FID-D Venture Company LLC, received 2 million rubles from him, which is equivalent to 314 thousand somoni ($32,438). However, an audit by the law enforcement agencies in Tajikistan showed that the ex-head of Charog OJSC Bilol Makhkamov transferred to the director of FID-D Venture Company LLC only 900 thousand rubles, or 141 thousand somoni ($14,566).
A check of the facts provided by the source showed that FID-D Venture Company LLC works in reality and sells waste processing equipment. We sent a letter to this company but did not receive any response.
In response to a request from Asia Plus, the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption confirmed that it had discovered a financial deficit of the Charog company. According to the Agency, the Charog OJSC activities were inspected from September 2016 to March 2022, and “theft of cash and financial assets and loss of financial assets” was identified in the amount of more than 233 thousand somoni (equivalent to $20,619 at the exchange rate as of January 1, 2022).
According to the Agency, the investigation resulted in an open case against the former General Director of Charog OJSC Bilol Makhkamov on charges of appropriation or embezzlement of property in especially large amount (Article 245, part 4, paragraph “b” of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan). However, according to the Agency for Combating Corruption, after full compensation of this amount, the amnesty law was applied to Bilol Makhkamov, and the criminal case against him was closed.
Our attempts to find Bilol Makhkamov were unsuccessful. However, an investigation into the topic showed that as a result of his actions, Charog OJSC was unable to receive a lamp demercurisation unit from Russia.
In 2022, the Ecology Department of the Sughd region donated a device for energy-saving lamp recycling to the Charog enterprise. However, according to the current Head of the Charog company Valijon Salimov, these devices are small: they are capable of recycling up to a thousand light bulbs per day. According to Salimov, if the large URL-2M unit were received from Russia, it could recycle almost 3,900 lamps per day. Currently, 1.5 million mercury-containing lamps are stored in the Charog company’s warehouse and this number is increasing monthly. According to the Head of Charog, damaged mercury lamps are brought to this enterprise from other districts of the Sughd region. Valijon Salimov told us that his attempts to obtain the unit from Russia were unsuccessful.
Recycling Equipment Is Bought but There Are No Specialists
This is not the only unsuccessful attempt to recycle mercury lamps in Tajikistan. In 2013, equipment for energy-saving lamps recycling was purchased for the State Unitary Enterprise “Dushanbe Solid Waste Landfill” with a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. However, this equipment did not work for long, since, according to official data, there was no specialist in recycling energy-saving lamps in Tajikistan.
“They brought a mini-factory here but they are not going to use it. This equipment belongs to the enterprise but no one knows how to operate it. In May 2023, we completely paid off the debt to the EBRD,” Saiburkhan Atozoda, Head of the Dushanbe Solid Waste Landfill, told CABAR.asia.
The Committee for Environmental Protection also stated that the equipment for mercury lamps recycling purchased for Dushanbe “worked for a certain period and then stopped working for technical reasons.”
On November 14, 2023, the Committee for Environmental Protection donated “two sets of equipment for mercury lamps recycling” to the Dushanbe Solid Waste Landfill. According to the Committee, these devices recycle 350 mercury lamps per hour.
In March, Saiburkhan Atozoda told a CABAR.asia journalist that the company’s warehouses contained 32 thousand of energy-saving lamps, which were recycled within a month and a half. According to Atozoda, they are waiting for energy-saving lamps to be brought from other regions and they will recycle them as well.
A logical question arises: were only 32 thousand energy-saving lamps recycled in Dushanbe?
The 2017 report “Waste Management in Dushanbe, Problems and Solutions,” based on information from the Committee for Environmental Protection states that “about 1.5 million mercury lamps are used annually in Dushanbe considering that in urban markets, about 45-50 thousand mercury lamps, including low-quality lamps, become unusable every year.”
That is, according to this report, up to 50 thousand mercury lamps become unusable every year in Dushanbe city. Mercury lamps were used from 2009 to 2022. If at least 45 thousand lamps were disposed of annually in the capital, then over 13 years, their total number is almost 600 thousand. However, authorities state that only 32 thousand light bulbs have been recycled in the capital over 13 years.
Why Was the Government’s Decision Not Implemented?
The investigation showed that certain work has been carried out in the country to collect mercury lamps. In particular, in Dushanbe, until 2022, local government bodies and housing and utility services have opened points for the collection of energy-saving lamps.
According to the Committee for Environmental Protection report, 1,765 points for mercury lamp collection were opened in the country and 1.4 million mercury lamps were collected from the population and legal entities from 2009 to 2021. On April 5, 2024, in a response to Asia Plus, the Committee for Environmental Protection stated that just over 2 million used mercury lamps had been collected in the republic.
However, the Committee for Environmental Protection confirms that the collected lamps represent only a small share of all mercury lamps – only about 18-20%.
The lack of possibilities to collect lamps in one place is just one problem. Another problem is the impossibility of completely recycling or disposing of collected lamps. According to the Committee for Environmental Protection, there are currently only three mercury lamp disposing and recycling facilities operating in Tajikistan, which recycle 350 lamps per hour. These devices are installed in the cities of Isfara, Dushanbe, and Tursunzade.
The authorities admit that the government’s decision to recycle lamps in the country has not been implemented. Based on paragraph 1 of the “Procedures of waste mercury lamps collection from the population, legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, storage, transportation, disposal” of the Ministry of Economic Development, the State Committee on Investment, the Committee for Environmental Protection, the Housing and Utility Services, and local authorities were obligated “to take the necessary measures to acquire and put into operation at least five units of equipment for the disposal of used mercury lamps during 2011-2012”. However, a 2021 report by the Committee for Environmental Protection noted that this requirement “has still not been fulfilled by the relevant ministries and departments”.
The total number of mercury-containing lamps imported into Tajikistan or produced domestically between 2009 and 2022 is unknown. Khovar state news agency reported that until September 2011, Tajikistan residents were provided with “8 million 154 thousand energy-saving lamps”.
Why Is It Necessary to Recycle These Lamps?
The interviewed experts and Tajik officials agree on one thing: mercury-containing lamps are dangerous to human health and the environment and must be disposed of using a special procedure.
In the 2021 report, the specialists from the Committee for Environmental Protection stated that “According to sanitary standards, the permissible limit for mercury content in the air of residential and public buildings should be 0.0003 mg/m3”.
One energy-saving mercury lamp contains an average of 2-7 mg of mercury, which poses a serious environmental threat.
“If just one light bulb breaks, the concentration of mercury vapor in the atmosphere can exceed the permissible concentration limit by more than 160 times. Thus, the harm to public health and the environment from used mercury lamps is very likely and requires urgent action by the relevant competent authorities,” the report notes.
Anisa Abibulloeva, an environmental specialist, says that mercury-containing lamps should not be disposed of in general landfills after they become unusable since they can break there and poison the environment. According to Abibulloeva, broken light bulbs and poisoning may not kill a person outright but they will affect the people’s health.
Umarali Rajabov, a Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Toxicology at the Medical University, told CABAR.asia that mercury is a toxic substance and poses a serious threat to people.
“If mercury is spilled and a person inhales its fumes, it can cause damage to internal organs, including the liver. It absorbs into the blood, burns the skin, and, like leprosy, whitens the skin,” said Umarali Rajabov.
Mercury poisoning also damages the brain and can cause fainting. “Mercury poisoning can lead to death. If the amount of mercury is small, it will be absorbed slowly. If there is a lot of it, poisoning will begin quickly,” the doctor emphasised.
According to him, the amount of mercury inside a single energy-saving light bulb is not so large. However, if there are many lamps, it can lead to poisoning. The professor urged residents not to dispose of mercury lamps in general waste collectors but to bring them to special collection points.
The government decision of June 2022 prohibited the import, production, and sale of mercury lamps in Tajikistan.
Nevertheless, the journalistic investigation showed that the situation with the remaining millions of mercury-containing lamps, dangerous to society and the environment, is still unclear.