There are up to 50 sites for storing demolition waste in Ukraine - Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee
Kyiv • UNN
There are up to 50 sites in Ukraine for the storage of demolition waste caused by Russian aggression.
There are up to 50 sites in Ukraine for the disposal of destruction waste due to the aggression of the Russian Federation. This was announced to UNN journalist by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management Oleh Bondarenko.
Details
"The waste you are talking about is the so-called destruction waste. Back at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, around March 2022, at our joint initiative, the initiative of the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure, the head of the Ministry of Environment, and my initiative, a certain framework for managing this waste was developed. We clearly defined by introducing a government decree that this waste should be separated from household waste," Bondarenko said.
He noted that demolition waste should be collected at specific sites for storage. "Then they should be recycled separately from household waste or other demolition or demolition waste," Bondarenko added.
He also spoke about the number of sites in Ukraine for the disposal of demolition waste due to the aggression of the Russian Federation.
Keep in mind that there is such a site near each of the cities, large cities that were affected by the war. Near each smaller settlement there is a site, something similar, but usually it is just a separate part of the map at the solid waste landfill. That is, they exist, there are up to 50 such sites in the country, no more. How well do they perform their function? Again, as a storage function, yes, they perform their function. As a function of processing this waste, certainly not.
Bondarenko pointed out that as of now, the amount of demolition waste is large. Also, according to him, a huge number of destroyed houses are located in the temporarily occupied territories as a result of hostilities or the arrival of enemy missiles and drones.
"When we start dismantling (the territories we liberate from occupation - ed.), we will face an even bigger problem. This will be a problem not of storage, but of directly using the waste, reusing it and reducing the pollution of our lands. I know that there are several international projects that are developing methods for reusing this waste," Bondarenko said.
He noted that the process of reusing waste must be preceded by its high-quality sorting, separation of hazardous waste from this waste, and separation in certain cases of waste that cannot be used and recycled at all.
"Of course, I hope that at some point we will move to the point of stimulating the use of this waste, because otherwise it will be economically unprofitable. It will be profitable, unfortunately, to still bury them at certain sites. In order to avoid this, so that we do not have a separate huge amount of such waste, but they can be used, it is necessary to prioritize the use of this waste, it is necessary to stimulate, additional stimulation, economic stimulation of this activity," Bondarenko stressed.
In addition, Bondarenko spoke about the Finnish experience.
"Last year in April, I was in Finland. I looked at the Finnish experience of recycling demolition waste. They are very similar to demolition waste, just a different formation, but the principle of their treatment and recycling is the same. There, waste is sorted, recycled and does not stay for more than a month at such sites. They brought it in, sorted it, crushed it, processed the wood into chips, turned the large stones into smaller stones, took it away, brought in a new one. That's how this system should work," Bondarenko said.
Addition
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources reported that demolition waste is one of the most visible consequences of the full-scale aggression against Ukraine. According to official estimates, more than 280,000 buildings and structures have been destroyed or damaged, and at least 100,000 of them cannot be restored.
In 2023, the ministry stated that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, more than 670,000 tons of demolition waste have already been generated in Ukraine.
It was noted that there are many projects for their processing. Such waste is mainly used for road filling.