Integrated MSW management system in the Russian Federation: problems of interpretation and formation

Molokov Mihail Alekseevich ORCID: 0009-0009-3421-7084 Researcher 119019, Russia, Moscow, Novy Arbat str., 16, sq. 111 molokov_udsu@mail.ru

Introduction

The relevance of this topic is due to the completion in the Russian Federation at the end of 2024 of the implementation of the national project "Ecology" (2018-2024) and the federal project "Integrated Solid Municipal Waste Management System" included in it, among other projects (hereinafter referred to as FP KSOTKO). Despite the fact that statistics for summarizing the results of the sixth anniversary of the large-scale "garbage" reform will appear only in 2025, already today, based on the available data for 2019-2022, it is possible to draw certain intermediate conclusions and identify the main problems that complicated the formation of an integrated MSW management system declared as one of the goals of the reform.

The object of the study was the formation of an integrated MSW management system within the framework of the national project "Ecology" and the federal project "Integrated Solid Municipal Waste management System". The subject of the study was organizational, methodological, legal, financial, economic, industrial and technological problems that make it difficult at the federal and regional levels to achieve annual and final planned indicators of these projects in 2024. The purpose of the work is to provide a general description of the integrated MSW management system being created, as well as to identify the main problems of its formation in the context of a new financial and economic reality.

The methodological basis was an integrated approach that allowed the application of methods of systematic, comparative, factorial and economic-statistical analysis, content analysis, as well as synthesis. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the disclosure of an integrated MSW management system as a set of management and handling methods located among themselves in a certain hierarchy of application, with the decisive role of recycling. Due to the end of the implementation period of the national project "Ecology" and the CSOTCO FP included in it, attention is drawn to the fact that in new projects from 2025, the key criterion for the formation of an integrated system should be planned indicators not of the volume of processing and disposal of MSW, but primarily of the volume of disposal of MSW, since it is impossible to consider a comprehensive and effective management system at which about 80-85% of MSW is still sent to landfills, even after processing.

The results of the study

Since the launch of the MSW management reform was repeatedly disrupted for various reasons, a certain historiography has already developed to study the problems of its preparation and organization ^{[13; 15; 17]}. As for the narrower issue of forming an integrated MSW management system, the scientific and expert community joined it when it became possible to analyze the activities of the federal public law company "Russian Environmental Operator" (PPK REO) and regional operators, as well as the first indicators achieved within the framework of federal and regional projects.

In their publications, the authors consider both the federal goals and objectives of creating an integrated system and the problems of its implementation ^{[1; 4; 8; 10; 19]}, so are the prerequisites for its formation in various subjects ^{[3; 5]}. As statistical data for the "final" years 2023-2024 become available, researchers will undoubtedly increasingly voice the need to solve the most acute problems, for example, a more active formation of the recycling industry ^{[17; 19; 21]}. So far, the segment of research on the preliminary results of the implementation of the CSOTCO FP by the subjects of the federation remains very insignificant (see for example.: ^{[6; 9; 11; 14]}).

For the first time, the task of forming an integrated system for the management of solid municipal waste, including the elimination of landfills and the reclamation of the territories where they are located, as well as the creation of conditions for the recycling of production and consumption wastes that are legally prohibited for burial, was set by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 204 dated 05/07/2018 "On National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024". Pursuant to this decree, the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Strategic Development and National Projects approved the national project "Ecology" on December 24, 2018, and within its framework 11 federal projects with a period of implementation from 01.10.2018 to 12/31/2024.

One of these was FP KSOTKO with declared financial support for the implementation of 296.2 billion rubles, including 107.9 billion rubles from the federal budget, 182 billion rubles from extra–budgetary sources, 6.3 billion rubles from the consolidated budgets of the subjects (passport NP "Ecology" as of 12/24/2018, URL: http://government.ru/info/35569/). Initially, at the end of 2018, the key targets of the CSOTCO FP were the gradual increase in 2024 of the share of MSW aimed at processing in the total volume of generated MSW to 60%, and the share of MSW aimed at recycling to 36% (see table 1).                                           

Table 1. Plan and implementation of the key targets of the CSOTCO FP, % of the MSW formed during the year

Source: compiled by the author according to the passports of the FP KSOTKO 2018 (URL: http://government.ru/info/35569 /) and 2023 (URL : https:// www.mnr.gov.ru / activity/np_ecology/), as well as according to the Rosprirodnadzor reporting data on form 2-TP (waste) for 2019-2022 (URL : https://rpn.gov.ru/open-service/analytic-data/statistic-reports/production-consumption-waste /)

 It should be noted that, despite the prolonged preparatory period, as of January 2019, almost half of the subjects of the federation were again not adequately prepared for the start of the reform, mainly due to unapproved tariffs, insufficient number of landfills equipped in accordance with the requirements of MSW, lack of special equipment, lack of waste sorting stations, equipment and containers the required format, as well as due to the lack of regional operators. According to the assessment of the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation, expressed in an analytical report in 2020, at the initial stage, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation did not properly fulfill the powers of the founder, not providing the activities of the PPK REO with timely and sufficient funding, which affected the delay in the organizational stage, and ultimately the effectiveness of the implementation of certain activities of the FP KSOTKO in 2019-2020 (URL: https://ach.gov.ru/upload/iblock/41b/41b02dc50697e6fc57ec2f389a8b68f0.pdf?ysclid=ls01jkee5f992607132).

On the basis of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 07/21/2020 No. 474 "On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030", which provided for the creation by 2030 of a sustainable MSW management system that ensures waste sorting in the amount of 100% and a two-fold reduction in the volume of waste sent to landfills, as well as in accordance with paragraph 1 according to the list of instructions of the President of the Russian Federation dated 09/28/2020 No. Pr?1726 GS, the passport of NP "Ecology" and targets for the treatment of MSW underwent corresponding changes, in particular, an indicator of the volume of MSW directed to burial was introduced (passport of NP "Ecology" as of 10/31/2023 URL : https:// www.mnr.gov.ru / activity/ np_ecology/) (see Table 1).

According to the above-mentioned decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, the formation of an integrated MSW management system was generally envisaged by the end of 2024, i.e. by the end of the implementation period of the CSOTCO FP. At the same time, the legislation did not reflect either the concept of an integrated system or simply a MSW management system, which created additional problems for objective final assessments. The main tool in this case was the definition of waste management enshrined in basic Law No. 89-FZ "On Production and Consumption Waste", according to which it is an activity for the collection, accumulation, transportation, processing, disposal, neutralization, and disposal of waste. Obviously, the systematic application of these waste management methods, based on certain principles, priorities, and mutual relationships, forms the MSW management system itself, which has some integrity and unity.

The domestic practice of MSW management until 2019, for objective reasons, cannot be called systematic due to the fact that their export, placement (burial) and neutralization (incineration) clearly dominated other methods of treatment, and separate collection and disposal were at the lowest level. Even transportation was not properly organized, as a result of which a significant part of MSW across the country ended up not in landfills, but in tens of thousands of unauthorized landfills.

Since Russia was guided by the best practices of developed countries, in a short time it had to forcibly go through a number of stages in the formation of a waste management system, which some researchers, for example, O. N. Momotova, E. G. Sabelnikov and I. P. Savchenko, identify five [13: p. 73], and which are closely related to environmental management.The oriented "Waste Hierarchy" introduced in 2008 in EU legislation, and later in Federal Law No. 89-FZ.

In fact, the MSW management system began to take shape in Russia only in 2019, before that, the necessary regulatory and organizational framework was mainly created and improved. The formation of this system was delayed for several years, but a noticeable effect began to manifest itself already in 2020-2021, mainly due to the activities of the PPK REO and regional operators, who optimized the organization of the collection and export of MSW, their partial sorting, and also began to eliminate numerous unauthorized landfills as part of the implementation of the Clean Country program.

The newly created MSW management system was a big step forward in 2019 in Russian realities, but initially lagged behind European practice, since most EU countries went through recycling rates of 5-7% and burial rates of 90-95% 25-30 years ago. The fact that, against a global background, it is the EU countries that have become the benchmark for systematic environmentally oriented waste management in recent years can be seen from the detailed statistics provided in 2018 in the World Bank's What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050. In particular, such a benchmark is the indicator achieved by a number of countries of 0-3% of MSW aimed at burial and 50-60% of MSW aimed at disposal [24: p. 52]. A fundamentally different model is demonstrated by Japan, which sets trends in high-temperature pyrolysis (combustion) technologies [25: p. 6].

In fact, the Russian "garbage" reform in 2019-2024 should go through two stages – the creation of a proper system of MSW management and the formation on its basis of a more effective integrated MSW management system, the formal signs of which are the achievement of 50.2% of processed (sorted) indicators by the end of 2024 MSW and 12.1% of recycled MSW. The complexity in this case lies in the activation of the use of preventive methods such as preventing and reducing the formation of MSW in the process of handling MSW, as well as such more effective disposal methods than burial as recycling, regeneration, including composting, and recovery, including high-temperature pyrolysis, i.e. combustion to generate energy.

Discussion of the research results

Experts, in particular, G. A. Volosnikova and I. V. Gladun, see one of the reasons for the problems in the implementation of the CSOTCO FP in the content of regional territorial waste management schemes that are inconsistent with the goals of the reform, often focused on traditional methods – waste disposal, construction of new landfills and waste sorting complexes, as well as modernization of old ones, etc. territorial schemes did not provide for the use of an integrated approach, the best available technologies for resource conservation and minimizing the formation of MSW, ignored the issues of introducing separate collection, organizing recycling collection points, expanding the regional network of enterprises for the production of secondary raw materials, as well as issues of innovative development of the MSW processing industry [5: p. 361].

Among other regional problems, low efficiency of logistics schemes for waste transportation was most often voiced ^[12], underdevelopment of processing infrastructure, lack of processing enterprises, low investment potential of waste management facilities and their use as sources of secondary raw materials ^[3].

Since the beginning of the reform, the scientific community has voiced reasonable criticism of the CSOTCO FP with proposals to adjust the values of indicators and financial support for the creation of MSW disposal and treatment facilities, supplement the project with measures that take into account the priorities of waste management policy and aimed at preventing and reducing the amount of MSW formation, etc. In addition, it was proposed to amend legislation regarding the expansion of financial support measures for investment projects in the field of MSW management, the creation of a unified MSW accounting system in order to exclude double financing, etc.

As E. S. Tskhovrebov rightly noted, despite a significant number of scientific and applied research on waste management problems, a systematic scientific and technical approach to solving the problems of their recycling and disposal in conjunction with ensuring environmental safety, resource conservation, development of technological infrastructure for separate collection, processing, recycling and neutralization has not been clearly identified, as well as the rational involvement of the obtained secondary resources in economic turnover. The issues of defining the functions, methods and mechanisms of organization, technical infrastructure, rationing, standardization, and effective use of waste resource potential also require careful study [20: pp. 78-79]

In the light of the rapid actualization of the environmental agenda in Russia, the main methods of handling MSW practiced in most subjects of the federation – burial and incineration – had already exhausted themselves in environmental and economic terms at the beginning of the "garbage" reform. It required a transition to a fundamentally new, rational waste management system using a whole set of complementary methods and technologies. The creation of such an integrated system is possible only within the framework of an integrated approach that comprehensively takes into account the material, energy and biological resource potential of waste [5: p. 363]. Thus, the integrated MSW management system is a more advanced organizational and economic system than just a MSW management system, and its formation, provided for by the CSOTCO Federal Law, should be considered as a condition for the transition to a higher level of waste management - to a sustainable MSW management system based on the principles of a closed–loop economy.

According to I. V. Levakova and E. A. Arustamov, the criteria for an integrated MSW management system are quite clearly outlined in the current CSOTCO FP, the fulfillment of which targets will mean that the system has been formed and is successfully functioning [10: p. 6]. The objectivity of such a formalized approach raises serious doubts. As can be seen from Table 1, the planned indicators initially established in 2018 were later significantly reduced both in terms of utilization and in terms of MSW processing, although the latter have never been in danger of failure since 2019. Post-factum changes in indicative planning cannot replace real results and contribute to improving the efficiency of the system being created.

In turn, N. A. Kulik and Yu. V. Plokhikh believe that for the organization of an integrated waste management system, it is necessary to form an integrated environment – internal, external and informational. The internal environment is associated with the creation of the internal structure of the system through the inclusion in the process of all stakeholders (public authorities and local governments, business entities), as well as the formation of the infrastructure of the system for the implementation of all stages of waste management and determining their further interaction. The formation of the external environment presupposes the availability of financial resources, a regulatory framework, technical and technological controls, and social aspects of management. Finally, the formation of the information environment of the waste management system is conditioned by the need to obtain up-to-date and reliable data on the main parameters and location of existing waste, as well as to inform all stakeholders about positive changes in the field of waste management and their impact on all aspects of public life [8: p. 128].

A. M. Avdonina, highlighting the elements and factors that have the greatest impact on the formation and functioning of an integrated MSW management system, suggests, among other things, taking into account the characteristics of three climatic zones of Russia, the temperature characteristics of which affect the collection, transportation and placement of MSW to varying degrees. She pays special attention to the need to introduce separate waste accumulation as a mandatory basic condition for creating an integrated MSW management system, as well as achieving the targets of the CSOTCO OP [1: pp. 4-5].

Many researchers have long noted the separate collection and sorting of waste as a key link in creating an integrated MSW management system, and at the very initial stage, directly at the source of their formation ^{[2; 7; 22]}. According to E. A. Sazonova, the weak development of collection and sorting, combined with the problem of logistics, caused the loading of Russian processing enterprises at the initial stage of the reform by only 40%, which is why some consumers of recyclables have to import sorted waste from abroad [16: pp. 570-571].

Taking into account the European experience, the concept of an integrated waste management system is most fully disclosed by E. S. Tskhovrebov, who believes that this is a system that considers waste as resources, goods or raw materials with consumer value and market value. First of all, it is aimed at preventing and quantitatively reducing waste generation, their maximum possible reuse through the organization of separate collection, processing, disposal and neutralization. Such a system necessarily provides for ensuring the environmental safety of the natural environment and vital human interests, and contributes to the sustainable development of territories. The technological basis for the formation and functioning of such a system should be the appropriate industrial infrastructure [20: p. 80].

It is obvious that the range of opinions regarding the main characteristics of the integrated MSW management system is quite wide among various authors, but almost all, to one degree or another, indicate as a key component the availability of an appropriate recycling infrastructure, the development of which, in the author's opinion, in most subjects lags behind the growth of planned indicators of the CSOTCO OP. In confirmation, it is sufficient to cite the data presented in Table 1 on the implementation of the federal recycling indicator for 2019-2022 and its actual "failure" in 2022.

Speaking about the main reason for the threat of non-fulfillment of the planned indicators of CSOTCO, especially in the regions, it should be noted the low investment attractiveness for private investors of projects related to the disposal of MSW, due to their high cost and long payback periods. The example of the Udmurt Republic is quite typical for many subjects of the federation, where, judging by the Territorial Scheme of waste Management (https://docs.cntd.ru/document/450254923 ), in order to meet the indicator for the disposal of MSW, it is necessary to increase the share of waste aimed at recycling by more than 309% in 2022-2024. It should also be noted that at the same time, no recycling enterprises are planned to be put into operation in Udmurtia until 2025, and the solution to the problem of meeting planned utilization indicators for state projects will be achieved, judging by the preparation of several sites at landfills, mainly due to a significant increase in such a type of processing as composting of MSW of organic origin.

Conclusions and further research directions

The analysis of the regulatory framework, special literature and foreign experience shows that the integrated MSW management system is characterized by the use of various methods of treatment, which are in a certain balance and hierarchy of application. The last element in such a system is the disposal of non-recyclable waste ("tailings"), and the smaller its scale and the damage to the environment, the greater the level of viability the system demonstrates. The experience of the European Union shows that energy utilization does not adequately solve the problem, since it leaves a lot of harmful combustion products and contradicts the principles of a circular economy. Recycling is much more environmentally friendly, the degree of development of which should be considered as the second key criterion for the development of an integrated waste management system.

It should be recognized that the curators of the MSW reform have tripled the target indicators of the CSOTCO recycling Program for 2024 (!), from 36% to 12.1% (see Table 1), in fact, became an official recognition of the underdevelopment of the recycling industry as a global problem of creating a civilized practice of handling MSW. And even such a significant decrease in indicators does not remove from the 2024 agenda the threat of non-compliance with the CSOTCO FP in terms of MSW utilization indicators.

One of the last landmark reform measures, along with the introduction of expanded responsibility for manufacturers of goods and packaging, was the approval by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation at the end of 2022 of an updated federal scheme for the treatment of MSW, coordinated with the subjects and linked to project indicators and results (approved by Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation dated 12/28/2022 No. 39-r). The scheme includes 1,240 new waste management facilities in 85 regions, mostly sorting, composting, biogas production facilities, new modern landfills of MSW and, to a lesser extent, recycling facilities. Thus, today in Russia, as a whole, the integrated MSW management system is still in the stage of active formation, however, the existing pace of development of waste recycling and disposal infrastructure calls into question the successful completion of this process in 2024. Since Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 07/21/2020 No. 474, the national development goals of Russia are defined until 2030, undoubtedly, The CSOTCO project in one form or another should be continued after 2024, and for its successful implementation, both more active financing from the federal budget for the development of the recycling and processing industry and the creation of a more effective incentive mechanism to attract private investors to the industry are necessary.