GEF-UNIDO project presented at round table on improvement of waste management system
The Regional Demonstration Project for Coordinated Management of ODS and POP disposal in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Armenia was presented at the Improvement of the Waste Management System round table held on June 4, 2021, at the international exhibition-forum ECOLOGY EXPO 2021 in Minsk.
Yuri Sorokin, representing the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), introduced the project:
— The Project will bring into existence a complex management and disposal system for ODS- and POP-containing wastes thus contributing to the delivery of the participating countries’ commitments under the Montreal Protocol and Stockholm Convention. The system will rest upon a strong legal and institutional basis that ensures control, collection, disposal of, and processing of waste streams. That basis means relevant laws and bylaws, the institutional potential of competent public authorities, the analytical potential of laboratories and data tools to monitor POP stockpiles, ODS banks and waste streams. Finally, the system needs respective infrastructure and technologies to destruct ODSs and POPs in an environmentally sound manner.
The representative of UNIDO emphasized that the Belorussian party of the project has a full understanding of all the system elements, and stressed that, in the former Soviet territory, the country became one of the leaders in this area through the successful practical solution of problems related to POPs and ODSs.
The round table agenda included a presentation of the history of establishing a collection and recycling system for electrical and electronic wastes in Belarus, and a report on the Russian and European experience in implementing an efficient waste management system, hazardous waste decontamination mechanisms, etc.
ECOLOGY EXPO 2021 is the major international exhibition and forum dedicated to the environment protection. Its visitors could participate in the 16th Republican ecological forum, plenary sessions, round tables, and business meetings.
On June 5, the exhibition ended.