Photo by: Mikhail Dzhaparidze / TASS
The geopolitical situation and the associated restrictions on logistics and imports, as well as the withdrawal of companies from the Russian market, are certainly affecting the course of waste reform. After all, a significant proportion of equipment and components for the waste management industry is still imported.
Such equipment is not produced in Russia in the form and quantity that would allow us to talk about its localisation, complete import substitution and independence of the market from imports. Again, without cunning or embellishing.
If the task is in reporting, it is possible to report about 70–80% of locally assembled equipment. But we must be clear that we have no one to cheat but ourselves. And it is not power and sorting equipment, it is conveyors, screens and manual sorters which give us certain capabilities, but no more.
Today, in order to receive financial support for a recycling project, it has to be ’packaged’: design, expertise and only then can it be applied for funding. Each project has an estimated cost in prices for a certain year and period, but the situation is changing dynamically: equipment prices are affected by rising prices for raw materials, a shortage of resources, and higher production costs.
For example, in 2021, we completed such a project, received a positive expert opinion, applied for financing and received approval in 2022. But the relevance of prices is already in question. To solve this problem, we need to formulate a set of requirements necessary to obtain project financing. They have to take into account the current risks.
There are also difficulties with professional training and the industry’s staffing hunger — another challenge that requires a comprehensive approach and solutions. The industry lacks qualified specialists to design waste treatment complexes, engineers who can assess and develop technological solutions. Certainly there are, and we know them as professionals and market leaders. But they are not enough.
Cover photo: Pyotr Kovalev / TASS
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