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Yesterday, on March 15 due to the initiative of the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency there was arranged the meeting with representatives of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy (SAEE) on the topic “Zero Waste” Policy and Waste to Energy and other interested parties.

Participants of the meeting were: 

Oleksandra  Gumeniuk – Deputy Director of the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency.

Cathy Cottrell – 1st Secretary Energy Policy

 and Head of Commercial Section British Embassy Kyiv.

Mahlovannyy Eugene – Director of the Department of Technical Regulation in Energy Efficiency of the SAEE.

Kotsyuba Valery – Head of the Department of investments in renewable energy SAEE.

Julia Usenko – Head of the Ukrainian agency of investment and sustainable development.

Alex Chumak – representative of company in this sphere.

During the meeting, Eugene Mogilev made a presentation of the Law Project that will facilitate policy implementation “0 Waste” policy and the use of residual waste that can not be recycled for power generation in environmentally friendly way. Mr. Eugene noted that there are a number of conditions under which the implementation of such projects will be socially and economically beneficial, but we must first achieve such conditions.

Among the problems, he said, there is too low cost for disposal in landfills of waste and the inability to check whether the carrier of waste transports waste to the legal landfill or in the wood and creates “free” illegal landfills. According to preliminary calculations, if the cost of the disposal to raise up to 200 UAH (and now it is 100 UAH per ton) then the consumer (condominiums / cooperatives, the management company) may choose a carrier that takes waste to the plant where waste is sorted and recycled, or that one, which simply takes it out on the landfill. In such transparent conditions there is really economic sense for projects with sorting and using waste residues in energy

Oleksandra Gumeniuk noted that the theme of “Zero Waste” Policy is long overdue in society and supported by the Government due to the Ministry of Environment which together with civil society developed and approved the National Strategy for Waste Management  by 2030 in the framework of EU requirements under the Association Agreement between Ukraine on one side, and the European Union, the European Atomic energy community and their member states, on the otherside. It should be stressed that this strategy clearly follows the basic principles of the EU Directive on waste, including the waste management hierarchy. The hierarchy of waste management primarily involves reduction of waste, and secondly the preparation for processing and recycling, thirdly, other processing, such as the production of energy from residual waste, and the last place, is what remains of the previous three phases – disposal to landfill. Therefore it is necessary both to continue working on the development of documents and preparation of regional and municipal plans of the implementation of Strategy on waste management and legislation on waste, including energy production.

Oleksandra also noted that EU legislation has placed a ban on the disposal of all recyclable waste by 2025. Many countries set a tax on the ground to make them less attractive to producers of waste. In Sweden, where land for placement in landfills is relatively affordable and accessible (in the north), however, the production of energy from waste is successful (47% of all waste turned into energy) as fees for garbage collection are kept artificially high by taxation.

For more information about international experience energy production from waste link: https://www.worldenergy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/WEResources_Waste_to_Energy_2016.pdf

Concerning all above, the participants agreed on the following:

  1. Continue to work on the development of regulations to promote the implementation of the hierarchy of waste management and projects on energy from waste.

  2. Promote and popularize national policy “Zero Waste” and the value of recycled materials in  solid waste structure and the need for recycling rather than disposal at landfills.

  3. Collaboration and knowledge sharing with civil society organizations, representatives of producers of waste, with authorities and companies that offer to implement the relevant projects without damage to the environment and health in Ukraine and regions of neighboring countries.

For detailed information and cooperation on this topic, you can contact Oleksandra Gumeniuk: oleksandra.gumeniuk@euea-energyagency.org