Waste management in Russia refers to the legislation, actions and processes pertaining to the management of the various waste types encountered throughout the Russian Federation. The basis of legal governance for waste management in Russia at the federal level is outlined through Federal Law No. 89-FZ, which defines waste as “the remains of raw materials, materials, semi-finished products, other articles or products that have been formed in the process of production or consumption as well as the goods (products) that have lost their consumer properties”.[1]
Throughout its existence, the government of the Soviet Union introduced state-wide legislative frameworks and recycling programs for effective waste management in the pursuit of a circular economy to reduce new material production.[2] However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union consequently erased these initiatives, yielding the onset of a Post-Soviet Russia largely dependent upon landfills for waste management.[3]
In 2019, almost 70 million tons of municipal solid waste was produced in Russia, with over 90% of this amount being deposited in landfills.[4] The Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage stated in the same year that landfills in Russia occupied an area roughly equivalent to the size of the Netherlands.[4]
In line with growing political and social pressures attributed primarily to the inadequate management of municipal solid waste across the country in the past two decades,[5] the Government of Russia introduced widespread rubbish reforms in 2018 under the National Project on Ecology, which contains the country's roadmap for achieving a municipal solid waste recycling rate of 36% by 2024.[6][7]
- ^ "Federal Law No. 89-FZ on industrial and consumer waste". www.ecolex.org. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ Ermolaeva, Y. (2018). Problems of institutionalization of waste management in Russia. Amazonia Investiga. Vol 7, No 12 (2018). 7.
- ^ Fedotkina, O., Gorbashko, E., & Vatolkina, N. (2019). Circular Economy in Russia: Drivers and Barriers for Waste Management Development. Sustainability, 11(20), 5837. doi:10.3390/su11205837
- ^ a b Semenova, G. (2021a). “Garbage reform” in Russia and the introduction of a new tax payment. E3S Web of Conferences, 244, 10031. doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202124410031
- ^ Singh, P., Milshina, Y., Tian, K., Borthakur, A., Verma, P., & Kumar, A. (2021). Waste Management Policies and Practices in BRICS Nations. CRC Press. doi:10.1201/9781003007579
- ^ "No time to waste? Moscow begins recycling its rubbish". euronews. 2020-01-02. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ Martus, E. (2020). Municipal Solid Waste Management in Russia: Protest, Policy, and Politics. Russian Analytical Digest, 23(261), 2–6. doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000458206