Almaty Hosts a Round Table on "Implementing the Concept of Transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to ‘Green’ Economy in Waste Management"

On September 5, 2013 a Round Table on "Implementing the Concept of Transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to ‘Green’ Economy in Waste Management" was held in Almaty within the framework of the 9th Central Asian International Exhibition "Environmental Technologies, Waste Management, Industrial Water Treatment and ‘Green’ Innovations" (EcoTech 2013) .

The event was organized by Iteca in cooperation with the Centre of Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Business Council for Sustainable Development (KBCSD), and the Center for Sustainable Production and Consumption with the support from Ministry of Environmental Protection of RK and Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department of Almaty. The Bronze Partner of the Round Table was NAUE GmbH & Co KG, a world-renowned geosynthetic products manufacturer.

Among the participants of the Round Table were Nina Gor, Deputy Director of the Department for State Regulation of Environmental Protection at the Ministry of Environmental Protection; Eldar Kildibayev, Deputy Head of the Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department of Almaty; Saltanat Bayeshova, UNDP projects coordinator, Galina Artyukhina, Executive Director of the Kazakh Association of Natural Resource Users for Sustainable Development (KAPUR); Vera Mustafina, Director of the Center "Cooperation for Sustainable Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan” (SUR), as well as representatives of companies representing waste management technologies and equipment, industries, engineering companies, research institutions, waste management service providers, NGOs, international organizations and others. In total 108 specialists.

The Round Table addressed general aspects of waste management system currently in use in Kazakhstan, as well as prospects for further development of the sector associated with the adoption of the above Concept.

Nina Gor, Deputy Director of the Department for State Regulation of Environmental Protection of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, was the moderator of the first session. She greeted the participants and dwelled briefly upon main perspectives for development of waste management in Kazakhstan. She noted in particular that "to date, a plan for implementation of the Concept of Transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to ‘green’ economy has been developed by the Ministry and approved by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and a large section of this Concept deals with waste management in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Ministry currently works to modify the current legislation with regard to the adoption of the Concept of Transition to ‘green’ economy. A certain amount of work has been already done; the Ministry has prepared a Municipal Solid Waste Management Program for 2013-2050. A draft Resolution to approve it is currently being prepared. Work on the Industrial Waste Management Program is also underway”.

Mrs. Gor also noted: "There is good reason that the Concept on transition to ‘green’ economy contains a section on wastes; the keynote of it is the concept of extended producer responsibility as one of the fundamental principles which, these days, should make producers be the first to foster a proper waste handling culture. That is, the transformation of used goods to waste has to be competently managed.

Today, the Agency for Construction, Housing and Utilities and the respective committee of the Ministry of Regional Development have started work towards modernization of MSW management. The first phase is nearing completion; Feasibility Studies have been performed for 15 locations and are now pending conclusion from the State Environmental Expert Review. Work conducted in these localities must be presented here. It is generally aimed at providing solutions to MSW handling issues in each particular locality.

A high priority issue is the need in waste-recycling or waste-sorting plants, or in modernization of MSW management. This includes closing and recultivation of existing landfills, as well as financing all these measures", said Nina Gor.

Eldar Kildibayev, Deputy Head of Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department of Almaty, presented a report on "Organizing an Efficient, Environment-Friendly and Safe Municipal Waste Collection System", giving a review of the Department’s activities in the area of waste management. Mr. Kildibayev also drew attention to the fact that the legislation of Kazakhstan contains practically no provisions regulating specific legal relationships related to municipal waste handling, storage, shipping and burial. Nor are there any unified standards in place for accumulation of municipal waste per capita or per public emission source. Therefore, based on the research done at the Kazakh National Technical University, the government (Akimat) of Almaty has approved new standards for MSW accumulation that apply only within the city of Almaty.

Scientific research shows that per capita waste accumulation rates have doubled. The composition of waste has also changed. The city has introduced separate waste collection. The volume of municipal waste generated in Almaty alone is in excess of 500,000 tons. The daily MSW removal accounts for 1,100 - 1,500 tons.

An issue of no small importance for the city of Almaty, caused by 520 thousand vehicles, are wastes generated by car-care centers, service stations, tire-curing and oil-change shops. It is also a source of secondary resources in the form of worn-out rubber, plastics, metal and oils. Almaty has about 480 service stations and tire-curing/oil-change shops. Overall, auto repair facilities discard 500 tons of scrap metal, about 3.5 million liters of spent automotive and other oils, more than 1,200,000 tons of used tires, about 200,000 dead car batteries and over 550,000 liters of spent coolant fluids such as Tosol and anti-freeze.

Studies show that used commodities are most commonly utilized for household needs, such as incinerating in home stoves, which also adds to emissions in the atmosphere.

Mr. Kildibayev pointed out the lack of unified information base on waste accumulation and waste morphology, which makes it impossible to plan or forecast in regard to recyclables. “Unlike the Soviet period when we could know the precise volumes of waste generated, collected or stored at any particular place, we now have no such data available to rely upon while deciding how to invest in the construction of a waste management facility”.

On his part, Mr. Kildibayev came up with the following proposals:

1. "A central organ should be established in the cities to maintain a unified information base to capture, based on the amount of permissions issued, all information on how much waste is produced by each enterprise and on the nature of newly generated refuse/waste – that is, on waste accumulation and waste morphology.
2. A definition should be given to the concept of a "waste removal service provider", along with criteria to be applied to their work. A definition should also be provided for special equipment to be used in waste removal.
3. A supervision body (not necessarily governmental) should be established, probably comprised (as elsewhere in the world) by some large public associations that will monitor the information and reveal inconsistencies under a relevant program. We have enterprises and we have NGOs, but this, again, should be brought into accordance.
4. A license-based permit system for wastes should be created.
5. A charging scheme and a system of administrative penalties should be put in place".

The UNDP representative, Saltanat Bayeshova, spoke on the implementation of a project for safe chemicals management that is very important for waste minimisation. Under this project, proposals on safe chemicals management were developed (that were subsequently incorporated into the Concept of Kazakhstan’s transition to ‘green’ economy) on harmonization of legislation affecting health care, occupational safety, industrial safety and environmental protection (including chemical products inventory) with the provisions of the Law "On the Safety of Chemical Products"; promotion of environmentally safe technologies and processes, including those related to disposal of wastes containing persistent organic pollutants and other hazardous wastes; introduction of the international system of classification and labeling of chemicals; maintaining the adequate materiel and equipment status of regional analytical laboratories to obtain reliable immediate data on surface/ground water, soil and air pollution; improving the system of state statistical recording and control of chemicals, with formation of emission registers and transfer of chemicals on the regional and national levels.

"Previously, safe chemicals management was not regarded as a priority, so the incorporation of these aspects in a strategic document of this level (meaning that implementation of these measures will be henceforth state-controlled) is a major achievement of the project", emphasized Mrs. Bayeshova.

The second session addressed up-to-date waste collection, shipping, separation and recycling technologies. The moderator of the second and third sessions was Galina Artyukhina, Executive Director of the Kazakhstan Business Council for Sustainable Development (KBCSD).

In her report "Zero waste + zero loss": Kazakhstani Enterprises Heading Towards World’s Best Practice" Mrs. Artyukhina spoke of the third industrial revolution which, today, sets a task of efficient use of materials, and discussed the role of "waste" in terms of environmental impact and resource conservation.

As an example, she mentioned the European Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (Waste Framework Directive) establishing the basis for conceptual approach to waste management with regard to waste identification and pre-application/pre-recycling treatment, and presented a comparative analysis of European and Kazakhstani waste statistics.

Mrs. Artyukhina focused on potential benefits from waste: "Waste has its "hidden resource": for example, a ban on landfilling of untreated waste introduced in Germany opened a "new era" in its economy based on closed-loop production cycle. This gave German economy 250,000 new jobs and an annual revenues of Euro 50 billion.

Mrs. Artyukhina went on speaking of “gold mines” on landfills. Summarizing her report, she stressed that "business is the only mechanism on this planet to produce changes needed to prevent global degradation of society and environment".

A presentation on "Recycling installations at Concrete Batching and Mixing Plants” was made by Georgiy Zvyagin, Sales Manager for water treatment equipment, V.A.M.-MOSCOW LLC.
In his report, Mr. Zvyagin focused on the following:

1. WAMGroup as the world’s leading manufacturer of screw conveyors;
2. WAM’s equipment used in water treatment and recycling;
3. Operating principles of recycling;
4. Characteristics and advantages of concrete recycling installations manufactured by WAM;
5. Reference list of recycling installations in the world practice and in CIS countries;
6. B.A.M.-Moscow: plant representative, terms of supply and cooperation, and warranty policy.

A report on "An Integrated Approach to MSW Treatment" was presented by Anton Yevdokimov, Commercial Director of the "Waste Treatment Equipment" line at RG-Techno LLC .

Laura Yergaliyeva, Business Development Officer at West Dala LLP, made a report on "Waste Recycling: Experience of West Dala LLP”. The report covered such issues as key stages in the development of recycling; difficulties and obstacles in the introduction of recycling; ways to support the further development of this important area of waste treatment.

"For our company, recycling translates as: meeting our clients’ expectations and requirements; gaining a competitive advantage in the services market; corporate social responsibility; profits resulting from waste reuse; state commitment and support for sustainable development.

Our relatively short experience in recycling shows that it is an essential component of waste management and HSE (health, safety and environment) activities that needs to be actively developed.

Laura Yergaliyeva also discussed the common difficulties and obstacles encountered by a Kazakhstani company engaged in waste treatment, such as "tremendous lack of environmental awareness in the general population; expensive equipment (waste sorting lines, balers and compactors, shredders etc.); lack of educational programs on recycling in Kazakhstan (official environmental websites, magazines, TV programs etc.); low cost of recycled materials; lack of state support in terms of budgetary subsidies for expensive equipment".

Concluding her report, Mrs. Yergaliyeva said: "From the examples of other countries that have made great progress in recycling we can see the bright future prospects for this industry in our country. To implement recycling in Kazakhstan, we need to enhance the information field around waste management at the country level, and every citizen should try to change their personal culture in regard to waste".

The creation of Kazakhstani Association on Waste Management ("KazWaste") was announced by Aydar Makhambet, Director of scrap tire plant, who was among the founders of the Association. "The Association was established to help enterprises, government bodies and the public in finding solutions to problems arising in implementation of waste management activities". The role of the Association's secretariat is carried out by the Center "Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan".

 

Nikolay Khramov, developer of a new type of fuel and Manager of Project No. 1 of the pilot plant of the Republican State Enterprise "National Center for Multipurpose Mineral Processing" presented a report on "Recycling Ash and Slag Deposits with Extraction of a Marketable End Product – Magnetic Heavy-Mineral Concentrate Used in the Production of High-Grade Steels, Ferroalloys and Rare Metals and in Making High Quality Dry-Mixed Cement". The report was supported by a video introducing a new way to generate zero-waste, eco-friendly heat energy and potentialities of its commercial use by small and medium-sized businesses.

 

Yermek Zeynikenov, Sales Manager at RK, NAUE GmbH & Co. KG, made a report on "Construction of Landfills for Depositing Various Types of Waste. Practical Experience in Germany and CIS Countries".

 

 

Pyotr May, representative of the Centre of Cooperation for Sustainable Development in the Russian Federation, spoke of ash and slag waste (ASW) processing – one of highly topical issues of ‘green’ economy setting a task of creating an infrastructure and facilities for industrial waste treatment and incentives for their stable operation. The report addressed industrial technologies used for processing and recycling of ash waste from an incineration plant and slag waste from a ferroalloy facility in the Russian Federation, their economic and organizational benefits and drawbacks. Causes of insufficient introduction of these technologies at ash and slag generating industries of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan were analyzed based on these examples.

Vera Mustafina, Director of the Centre of Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Republic of (CSD) discussed the legislative barriers to the development of separate waste collection and treatment systems in the Republic of Kazakhstan. She identified and analyzed the obstacles to the development of waste management in Kazakhstan. In addition, she touched upon the issues of waste-specific regulations, the concept of extended producer responsibility, incentives (measures to promote the development of waste processing business), "green" state procurements, and consumer information on waste management initiatives.

Yury Shlee, Sales manager for CIS, NAUE GmbH & Co. KG, made a presentation on "Recultivation of Landfills for Depositing Various Types of Waste. Practical Experience in Germany and CIS countries". The presentation discussed up-to-date technologies widely used in Germany and CIS countries.

"While we are busy harmonizing laws, construction regulations etc., new facilities are still being built in the old way. So, what’s the good of it, when we build most facilities in the old manner, and, eventually, built the rest to the European standards? I mean to say that harmonization is a long process, and it would be a shame if we speak loudly of up-to-date technologies while continuing to build "poorly" in default of relevant construction standards, because practical engineering and technical appraisal are still based on the existing legislation of Kazakhstan!"

The Round Table also discussed ways of further cooperation between the ministries concerned and small and medium-sized enterprises, aimed at arranging an environmentally sound and profitable system for municipal/industrial waste collection, shipping, treatment and disposal in Kazakhstan.

The participants put forward their questions and proposals and exchanged their opinions.

All proposals presented during the Round table were reflected in its Resolution that was unanimously adopted by the participants.

Full text of the Resolution is available at the event’s website at www.ecotech.kz.

A memorable group photo session was held for those wishing to partake.

On behalf of the organizers, we thank all participants for their interesting and meaningful contributions and proposals! We are looking forward to meeting you at EcoTech 2014 exhibition scheduled on September 17-19 in Almaty.