On June 5, the world celebrates World Environment Day. For Ukraine, this date holds special significance, as the war has increased the burden on nature, and issues of waste, soil pollution, fires, mining, and community restoration have become part of the daily agenda.
Regarding the fact that environmental responsibility today involves both state-level decisions and household habits—sorting, composting, repairing items, refusing unnecessary plastic, and conscious shopping—UNN spoke with Anna Prokaieva, Executive Director of Kharkiv Zero Waste and board member of the "Ukrainian Zero Waste Alliance" NGO.
In a conversation with journalists, the ecologist and activist noted that Ukraine has already taken the first systemic step in waste management reform, but much practical work lies ahead.
"What has fundamentally arrived for us is the new law on waste management, which already includes a waste hierarchy. However, many mechanisms are still not prescribed, meaning how exactly to do it," Prokaieva said.
According to her, one of the key stages should be extended producer responsibility, where businesses are responsible not only for manufacturing the product but also for the packaging after its use.
How Ukrainians are changing their eco-habits
Prokaieva notes that Ukrainians are gradually beginning to perceive waste not as trash, but as a resource. Communities are installing nets for plastic, opening recycling collection points, launching composting, and conducting training for residents. Changes are not uniform everywhere, but movement is already noticeable.
"The ice (has broken, – ed.). Ukrainians are beginning to realize that this (waste, – ed.) is not about trash, but about a useful resource that our Ukrainian recyclers use," she explained.
Plastic, paper, metal, and glass can become secondary raw materials after sorting. They are used to manufacture household goods, construction elements, bins, tiles, manhole covers, and buckets. When people see where the collected raw materials go, sorting stops being an abstract "eco-consciousness" and turns into a daily household habit, the result of which can be seen with one's own eyes.
Waste sorting and reducing plastic use: what is the situation in Ukraine
Currently, the most common eco-habit in Ukraine remains sorting. For many people, this is the first step toward responsible consumption. But sorting only works when there is infrastructure: containers, collection points, clear rules, and regular removal.
Prokaieva said that Kharkiv Zero Waste resumed operations after a short break during the first year of the full-scale war. At the organization's point, one can drop off about 40 different fractions of recyclables, including small items that usually end up in the general bin.
"You can drop off about 40 different fractions with us. We find unique options where they can actually be recycled, for example, those clips for bread bags," she noted.
A separate problem is single-use plastic. Some packaging is difficult to recycle or requires specialized plants. Therefore, it is important both to sort and to prevent waste from appearing: take a reusable bag, a water bottle, a coffee cup, and buy products without unnecessary packaging.
Which environmental habits are becoming popular in Ukraine
Among the habits Ukrainians have already acquired are reusable bags, buying food and household chemicals in their own containers, repairing things, composting organics, reusing clothes, and refusing unnecessary purchases. However, a habit is reinforced not only by personal motivation.
"A habit is reinforced not only by the individual but by the available infrastructure and the support of others in this process, literally at the service level," Prokaieva said.
The war has also changed the environmental behavior of some Ukrainians. People who went abroad often return with an already formed culture of sorting, as in many countries, separate collection is a daily norm.
"Many people who didn't even think about this before the war returned with acquired skills and a new culture," the UNN interlocutor noted.
Eco-initiatives and educational campaigns in Ukraine
Eco-initiatives are increasingly working in both large cities and small communities. These include recycling collection points, training for residents, composting, local cleanup events, consultations for local governments, and campaigns on responsible consumption.
Anna Prokaieva cited the example of the Derhachi community near Kharkiv, where people joined centralized composting despite the constant danger from Russian shelling.
"Even in Derhachi, a small town 12 kilometers from Kharkiv, we see: people gladly accepted composting. All containers have been distributed, despite the fact that people are under Shahed and KAB (guided aerial bomb) attacks every other day or every day," she said.
How youth are joining environmental projects
Young people often adopt new environmental practices faster because they see them not as restrictions, but as a norm of modern life. Social networks, bloggers, local initiatives, educational events, and volunteer projects help spread simple rules: sort, don't buy unnecessary things, repair, choose reusable.
For many Ukrainians during the war, eco-habits also become psychologically significant. After all, they provide a sense of control over one's own life and the opportunity to do something useful for one's yard, community, or city.
"They (people, – ed.) cannot stop the war, environmental pollution, mining, explosions, burning of fields, fires. But they can do what they can," Anna Prokaieva said.
Over 7,000 people participated in the city-wide clean-up in Kyiv - KMDA19.04.26, 11:28
All-Ukrainian actions and educational initiatives for Environment Day in Ukraine
For World Environment Day, educational events, information campaigns, cleanups, lectures, trainings, recycling collection drives, and events for children and youth are held in Ukraine. Their goal is to clean up the territory and explain how a person can personally change daily behavior through eco-habits.
Environmental organizations advise starting with simple actions: set up a separate container for plastic or paper at home, find out the address of the nearest collection point, buy a reusable bag, refuse unnecessary plastic bags, don't take disposable tableware, and compost organics where possible.
Why eco-habits are important for the future
The strength of most eco-habits lies in their mass adoption. If many people sort, repair, buy less single-use plastic, and demand infrastructure, communities and businesses are forced to change.
Ecologist and activist Anna Prokaieva emphasizes that Ukrainians are already ready for broader infrastructure, but so far it is not available everywhere. In frontline regions, the situation is more difficult due to security risks and the destruction of logistics.
How small daily changes affect the environment
Even the simplest eco-habits reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or is incinerated. Sorting provides recyclers with raw materials. Refusing unnecessary packaging reduces the burden on the waste management system. Composting reduces the amount of organics in general trash. Repairing extends the life of items and reduces the need for new production.
What everyone can do to protect nature
One can start with basic steps: refuse unnecessary plastic bags, carry a reusable bag, sort at least one fraction, don't buy unnecessary things, repair items, choose products without excessive packaging, and compost organic waste if possible.
It is also important to support local initiatives: use recycling collection points, spread information about them, join community projects, and contact local authorities regarding containers and separate collection systems.
Environmental specialist Anna Prokaieva emphasized that even during the war, the environmental topic remains timely, as communities must recover better rather than return to old problems.
"Many say it's not the right time during the war. But it seems to me that during the war is exactly when it's possible to make the community better," she emphasized.
How eco-habits and quality of life for Ukrainians will change after the country joins the EU
After Ukraine joins the EU, the eco-habits of Ukrainians will in many cases be determined by Chapter 27 of the negotiations with the EU — "Environment, Climate, and Civil Protection." It covers over 200 EU legal acts: waste management, air and water quality, industrial pollution, chemical safety, nature protection, and climate policy.
The most noticeable changes will concern waste. The EU operates on the principle of a waste management hierarchy: first, prevention of waste generation, then reuse, recycling, recovery, and only as a last resort — disposal.
For Ukrainians, this will mean a gradual transition from the habit of "throwing everything in one bag" to regular sorting, separate collection of hazardous waste, batteries, textiles, organics, and packaging.
The principle of producer responsibility will also work more broadly: businesses must participate in financing the collection and recycling of their products after use.
The attitude toward plastic and packaging will also change. The EU is tightening requirements for packaging, restricting some single-use plastic products, stimulating the use of secondary raw materials, and setting a goal to make packaging recyclable. In practice, this will mean more reusable bags, personal food containers, water bottles, fewer unnecessary plastic bags, and the gradual disappearance of some single-use plastic packaging.
Quality of life will also improve through cleaner air, water, safer waste management, and better control over industrial pollution.
The European "zero pollution" policy aims to ensure that by 2050, air, water, and soil pollution do not harm human health and ecosystems. Thus, Ukrainians will receive more open data on the state of the environment. And enterprises and local governments will have clearer rules and an enhanced role in controlling waste, water, and air quality.
A separate direction will be the modernization of communal services, because without containers, collection routes, and processing, it is impossible to ensure waste sorting and its subsequent recycling.
Reminder
Russian aggression has dealt a devastating blow to Ukraine's ecosystems, destroying forests, steppes, and nature reserves. Restoring destroyed territories will require significant effort and time, and some areas may become "red zones."