02.02.2022
On February 2, under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a videoconferencing was held on improving waste management system and the environmental situation, as well as the topical tasks of the nationwide project «Yashil Makon».
At the beginning of the meeting, the President addressed the public:
«From an early age, our parents taught us to keep the yard and environment clean. Our people from the ancient times have been careful about soil, water and nature. For a reason there is a proverb «Chopped Down One Tree - Plant Ten». The man planted a tree was considered a blessed. When a child was born, a tree was planted in his honor».
In the twenty-first century, when industry is growing rapidly in the world, the environmental agenda is gaining prominence. We must leave a healthy environment to our descendants. To do this, one needs to take care of nature and act, thinking not only about today, but also about the near and distant future.
«The most important question is to raise the ecological awareness of the people. Look at the streets and any other places today. You’ll see the waste that’s being thrown away. Our sacred country, we say. Why then is it not pure? Our sacred books say, «Purity is a half faith».
Why don’t the media, the makhalla (the local residential community area) activists sound an alarm? A senior generation, our public? Certainly, this problem cannot be solved by administrative means alone. The younger generation must be taught to love nature. We need to create an environment where at a makhalla, on a street, the litter thrower is shown to be wrong. This is our common cause and human duty», noted Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The meeting has discussed the topical issues.
According to the analysis, in almost all countries the quantity of solid household waste per capita is increasing by 1% per year. Owing to socio-economic growth in our country, the accumulation of waste is growing at an annual rate of 2%, reaching an annual volume of 7 million tons.
However, the collection, sorting, recycling and disposal system is unsatisfactory. For example, only 10% of waste is recycled in Karakalpakstan and only 20% in Ferghana and Kashkadarya regions. At 781 makhallas, the issue of waste disposal has not yet been resolved. The population is highly indebted for waste services. The health, education and markets require 19,000 containers of waste.
There are no landfills for building waste, but it is dumped along roads, on the side of fields or in rivers. In the past year, 4,000 cases of dumping of construction waste in inappropriate locations have been identified.
There is no clear system of collection of leaves and branches of trees in the neighborhoods, masses and alleys, no unified system of storage, transportation and disposal of medical waste.
Overall, none of the country’s 197 landfills meet environmental health requirements and 24 landfills are full. The State Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection and the regional khokims are tasked with regularizing the ranges and eliminating those that have used their resources. It is important to draft a law establishing procedures for the organization and closure of such sites.
The possibility of increasing the coverage of household waste collection services to 95% and recycling to 40% has been mentioned. To this end, the imported equipment, parts and spare parts will be exempted from customs duties for three years. The soft loans for up to five years will be made available for the purchase of sorting and processing equipment, covering a portion of the loans that exceeds the refinancing rate. For this purpose, a phased allocation for five years of 500 billion Uzbek soums from concessional funds of international financial institutions is planned.
The need to support entrepreneurs in the field was stressed. The land, property and social tax rates for clusters with processing capacity will be set at 1%. Instead, clusters are required to increase the level of waste treatment in their area by at least 40%.
The commissions have been given for the establishment of such enterprises in the regions and cities based on public-private partnerships, the purchase of 500 special equipment for the regions and the installation of additional containers in social institutions and markets.
In addition, Tashkent enterprise «Makhsustrans» will be transformed on the basis of public-private partnership. A new system will be introduced to charge for household waste collection using foreign experience.
The need for a safe system for the disposal of organic, building and medical waste has been noted.
As it is well-known, the nationwide project «Yashil makon» was launched in November 2021. It is set to plant 200 million seedlings as a part of the project. Accordingly, 85 million seedlings were planted in autumn. Many organizations, makhallas and the general public participated actively in this action. In the spring this year, it is planned to plant 125 million tree seedlings.
«A nationwide project «Yashil Makon» is the event, which will not be limited to one year. We aim to plant 1 billion seedlings over the next five years. The result of this work must be visible at every makhalla. This good deed must be done in good faith», the President said.
At the meeting, it was announced that the national event «Green Year» shall start from March 1. The importance of finding seedlings suitable to the climate of each region, which are not required water, and of increasing the number of nurseries for their production, was also mentioned. The State Forestry Committee is charged with distributing fruit and ornamental trees free of charge to the population of 10 million seedlings. The Road Committee is charged with organizing protective plantations along international and republican roads.
The responsible agencies have been instructed to set up mobile environmental patrols covering all districts and cities.
The information of responsible officials of the sphere and district khokims (governors and mayors) was heard at the meeting.