At the Government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov considered issues of waste management, El.kz cites primeminister.kz.
Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nysanbayev and Minister of Industry and Construction Ersain Nagaspayev presented reports on the current situation and plans for the development of municipal and industrial waste management. Minister of Energy Yerlan Akkenzhenov spoke about waste management of the fuel and energy complex. Also, reports were made by the akim of Ulytau region Dastan Ryspekov and the akim of Astana city Zhenis Kassymbek.
During the meeting, Prime Minister noted that the accumulation of waste has long been one of the most acute problems of our time. As scientific research shows, insufficient attention to the problem of waste management affects the environmental situation, health and quality of life of the population.
"To develop the waste management system in Kazakhstan, a special mechanism of preferential financing was approved last year. A pool of 94 projects was formed.
However, their implementation is at an extremely low level. To date, 67 projects have been considered. Only 6 have been financed for the amount of 4 billion tenge.
This is evidence of their poor development on the part of akimats,"Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.
The head of the Government stressed that active work on the implementation of projects, modernisation of equipment, introduction of new technologies is needed.
Of the almost 5 million tonnes of solid domestic waste generated in the regions last year, about 26% was processed and utilized. And mainly at the expense of recycling of waste paper and plastic.
Prime Minister noted that the issues of implementation of projects on incineration of municipal and other wastes are delayed. Although all the regulatory framework is available.
Also do not find a solution to the issues of processing industrial waste. Every year, Kazakhstan's enterprises store about 1 billion tonnes of such waste, and only 11% of the total volume is recycled. For comparison: in developed countries this indicator reaches 70-80 per cent. At the same time, waste dumps at deposits contain impurities of precious and rare metals. To extract them, it is necessary to apply new efficient technologies. Also, ash dumps of energy enterprises are constantly growing.
Olzhas Bektenov emphasised that for effective waste management it is necessary to introduce a digital system and modern recycling technologies.
"For effective management of all wastes it is necessary to build a clear system and digitise it. With the right approach, waste should be utilised, recycled and reused. We already have such projects in place.Domestic mining companies have started processing waste and producing about 30 types of products. These are construction materials, fertilizers and much more,"Prime Minister said.
Head of the Government has instructed the Ministry of Ecology together with interested government agencies to develop a concept of management of all types of waste by September 1. It should be aimed at centralising the management of waste management processes, involvement of all stakeholders, building a model of cyclical economy.
The Ministry of Ecology together with the Industry Fund and akimats should intensify work on implementation of projects in the sphere of waste management. It is necessary to increase the number of financed projects from the approved list by 5 times. Akimats of regions should support each project on sorting and processing of wastes before putting them into operation.
The Ministries of Ecology and Energy together with Akimats have been instructed to determine the list of projects in the sphere of energy waste utilisation. In April, an auction should be organised to attract investors.
The Ministries of Industry and Energy need to develop specific measures of support and incentives for industrial and energy enterprises to recycle industrial waste. This will make it possible to create new industries in the field of coal chemistry, production of construction materials, and extraction of rare and rare-earth metals.
The Ministries of Ecology, Industry, Energy and Digitalisation are tasked with developing digital solutions for the management, monitoring and control of municipal and industrial waste.