he ninth Lviv Eco Forum was recently held in Lviv as part of Ukrainian Resilience Week. This year, a separate program was dedicated to waste management. UKRPEC attended the event to exchange views and premonitions with experts and stakeholders ahead of the big changes that the industry is about to face. In particular, it is very important for UKRPEC to communicate with community representatives and local authorities, as they will be the main partner for producers after the introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model in the field of packaging waste management in our country.

It should be noted that the interest and concern about waste management is bilateral, as the framework Law on Waste Management obliges local governments to ensure that the target for reuse and recycling of household waste is met by 2025 at the level of 10%. At the same time, neither an effective management model nor the necessary infrastructure for this still exists nationwide.

Oleh Bondarenko: Parliament may adopt the Law “On Package and Packaging Waste” in the first reading by the end of this year

In his speech, Oleh Bondarenko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, predicted that the Parliament could adopt the Law “On Package and Packaging Waste” in the first reading by the end of the year, which will launch the implementation of the EPR model for packaging waste.

It is worth reminding that the government’s draft law was registered in the Verkhovna Rada more than a year ago. However, the final version of the draft has not yet been made public. According to Bondarenko, the current delay has arisen, in particular, due to the change of teams in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development. The committee Chairman hopes that the presentation of the new draft law will take place after the new Ministers and their teams delve deeper into the topic and are able to formulate their positions on the issue.

In addition to the adoption of sectoral laws, the Government and Ministries also need to approve numerous bylaws to launch the new waste management system. To a large extent, these documents will ensure the implementation of the framework Law “On Waste Management,” which came into force last year. According to Stanislav Moskalevsky, Deputy Director of the Department of Digital Transformation, Electronic Public Services and Waste Management at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers has already approved a significant part of the necessary documents, but additional time is also needed to complete this work.

Despite the fact that the work on the legislation that will regulate the waste management sector in Ukraine is far from complete, experts find significant shortcomings even in the adopted laws. Oleksandr Ihnatenko, national expert in waste management at EGIS UKRAINA, emphasized that the provision on the administrator of household waste management services, which, according to the Law “On Waste Management,” is appointed by a city, village or settlement council for a territorial community, contradicts other provisions of the current legislation, including the Constitution.

Member of the Parliament Oleh Bondarenko, who was already heading the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada at the time of the law’s adoption, had to agree with the expert’s assessment and admit that this provision was erroneous. At the same time, according to Bondarenko, the Law “On Waste Management”, although it gives local authorities the right to appoint an administrator, does not oblige them to do so, so in order not to violate other legal requirements, local councils are better off… simply ignoring this provision.

Local government initiatives lack consistency

The presentations made at the forum show that local authorities in many regions are making efforts to organize separate waste collection and recycling. At the same time, these initiatives lack consistency and often have very different directions.

For example, in Lviv, with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Eastern European Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership Fund, construction of a large plant for mechanical and biological processing of solid waste is underway. According to Oleksandr Yegorov, Director of the municipal utility company “Zelene Misto”, the conflict with Polish contractors, which was previously reported by the media, has been resolved. According to preliminary plans, construction should be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

It is important to note that in the EU, separate collection and recycling of food waste is also expected to start only next year. So, despite Ukraine’s systematic lag in recycling the main resource-intensive types of waste, the Lviv authorities have decided to be almost ahead of our western neighbors in this matter. In addition, there are doubts about the economic feasibility of the project, as the operation of the plant will require constant and substantial funding.

Separate collection in Lviv is implemented only for plastic and glass waste, while cardboard and paper, which are one of the most resource-intensive types of waste, are placed in a common container with mixed waste and therefore are mostly not recycled.

A similar approach has also been taken, for example, by the local authorities of Khmelnytskyi.

At the same time, Iryna Myronova, Senior Waste Management Expert at UNDP Ukraine, in her presentation on “Experience of De-occupied Communities in Kyiv and Chernihiv Regions in Restoring Waste Management Systems,” mentioned the UKRPEС pilot project on separate collection and recycling of packaging waste in communities in Kyiv region as a successful example of waste management.

In addition, at the Lviv Eco Forum, Volodymyr Slabyi, Head of the Executive Committee of UKRPEС, held preliminary consultations with Iryna Myronova on cooperation and coordination of efforts. After all, UNDP is currently implementing a project to distribute 110-liter containers for separate waste collection in the private sector, particularly in communities in Kyiv region. This initiative can be an important addition to the UKRPEС pilot project, which primarily covers apartment buildings. As always, when it comes to waste management, success depends on establishing effective logistics and cooperation between different parties: local authorities, the population, utilities, carriers, etc. For its part, UKRPEС is ready to make efforts, share its experience and expertise to provide residents of Kyiv region communities with an extensive infrastructure for separate collection and recycling of packaging waste.

Volodymyr Slabyi: “The success of the reform is impossible without clear, transparent and fair rules that must be defined by lawmakers”

“First of all, I would like to thank the organizers of the Lviv Eco Forum for the excellent working conditions and attention to the topic of waste management. During the speeches and discussions, we heard a lot of interesting thoughts and valuable ideas. Some of the initiatives presented, such as the waste-to-energy project in Zhytomyr or the long-term Swedish WM4U program “Waste Management Sector Reform in Ukraine,” deserve support. At the same time, my general impression is that we still have a lot of work to do in the future, because many people, including officials, politicians and experts responsible for the waste management sector, have only a rough idea of how it should function,” emphasizes Volodymyr Slabyi, Head of the Executive Committee of UKRPEС.

According to Volodymyr Slabyi, the event did not pay enough attention to the topic of ERP, which is a key element of the future reform. In addition, not all officials and experts are aware of the importance of packaging, which is the most important and resource-intensive component of solid waste.

“It seems that the authorities often view the EPR as an additional financial resource that producers have to provide. But such a vision has nothing to do with the European model that Ukraine is following. In my opinion, the lack of understanding is primarily due to the fact that the parliament has not yet published the final version of the draft law “On Package and Packaging Waste,” which means that there is virtually no subject for discussion. We can only welcome the honesty of the Chairman of the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, who sincerely admits that lawmakers themselves do not have a formed and holistic vision of the future reform. But I don’t understand why, in this case, the draft law is being prepared behind closed doors, and Members of the Parliament do not seek advice from producers who have extensive experience with the EU’s EPR model,” emphasizes Volodymyr Slabyi.

Head of the Executive Committee of UKRPEС is convinced that EPR is primarily a complex set of organizational measures designed to promote the implementation of circular economy principles.

“In addition to producers, other parties, primarily local authorities, will be responsible for implementing the reform. But success is impossible without clear, transparent and fair rules that must be defined by lawmakers,” insists Volodymyr Slabyi.