“Russia will have to choose its own way of solving the waste problem”

Photo from: Russian environmental operator

Finland and Sweden, Germany, Poland, Turkey and the UAE have, to varying degrees, successfully solved the problem of recycling in Europe. As I work for a Finnish company, I can say that in Finland less than 1% of waste goes to landfills, while in Russia it is about 90%.

The results are so strikingly different because the Scandinavian countries have separate waste collection, a ban on storage of certain waste fractions, a tariff to accept MSW for treatment, a so-called ’gate fee’, a deposit on containers and the population is motivated to deliver separately collected waste, but there is also energy recycling of waste fuel in the cement industry and thermal power plants.

We on the importance of carbon regulation need to remember how in the USSR we all collected waste paper and handed in glass bottles at the grocery store, buying milk, kefir or lemonade. What motivated us to do this: books, lemonade, milk? If one wishes to revive this practice in modern Russia, I think it is quite possible. To do this, you need to work out the appropriate regulations and implement them. That’s to put it in a nutshell. It is clear that this is a complex and extensive task. But it can be done.

Can we do away with the diversity of packaging and bottles in the name of separate collection? Let us ask ourselves. Of course, Russia will have to choose its own way to solve the recycling problem, because we cannot simply copy the Finnish model, for example. We are different in terms of climate zones and size of territory, population and mentality, and raw materials.

But this does not prevent us from using the effective practices of other countries. For example, not only Finland and Sweden, but also China has successfully implemented projects to recycle MSW into solid fuel, which is used there both in cement production and for heat and power generation.

If in the current geopolitical situation we focus on partnership with friendly countries, we should pay attention and rely, among others, on the Chinese market and look into what projects have been implemented there, what methods of business motivation are used there and transfer this experience to the Russian market with necessary adjustments and our own ideas and developments.

Cover photo: Russian environmental operator