MARCH 2006
Jahangir Kakharov, BISNIS Representative in Uzbekistan
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2006. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Market Overview
According to Environmental Performance Review of Uzbekistan conducted by
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 2001, 160 sites for municipal
solid waste disposal have been identified in Uzbekistan and there is some indication
about their conditions. At many sites personnel are present and record the
incoming refuse-collection vehicles. The Tashkent Scientific Research
Institute, VODGEO, is one of the main sources of info about Uzbekistan waste
management system. However, it should be noted, the waste database run by
VODGEO includes only an estimated 5% of total industrial waste.
According to above mentioned UNECE review, waste generated per capita
stands at 400 to 450 kg/year in cities and 40% less in rural areas. Other
sources speak of an average of some 300 kg/capita, although with wide
variations between different regions. The total municipal solid waste
generation as well as per capita generation, have declined over the years in
Uzbekistan. The reported per capita waste dropped from 375 kg in 1997 to 314 in
1998 and 240 in 1999. However, during the same period, the number of
operational waste-collection vehicles declined as well and so did the number of
trips to disposal sites. Therefore, the decline in registered waste doesn’t
necessarily reflect a real decline in waste and not even a decline in waste
disposal. The lower figures may be caused by a more efficient use of
operational equipment, since owing to the method of data collection, carrying
the same amount of waste with fewer trucks results in a lower amount of waste
being registered.
UNECE concludes that during recent years municipal solid waste per capita
has been in the order of 300 kg/year and that it is higher in urban areas and
lower in rural areas. The figure mentioned is comparable with those in other
countries in transition in both Central Asia and central and Eastern Europe.
The registration of industrial waste is based on reports from industries,
but only waste classified as toxic waste has to be reported. Non-toxic
industrial waste is not registered and no data are available. Although
reporting of toxic industrial waste is mandatory in accordance with
Governmental Regulation No. 22 of 18 November 1997 of the Ministry of
Macroeconomics and Statistics, only a small percentage of industrial
enterprises do indeed report their hazardous waste and, as a result, only a
fraction of the real amount is registered.
Further, UNECE report points out that agricultural waste is dominated by
cotton production, which generates more waste than the metallurgical, energy,
engineering and chemical industries combined. For each kilogram of raw cotton
more than a ton of cotton branch waste and cotton hulls is produced. However,
in spite of the high amounts, it is not the biodegradable waste that should
give cause for concern but the obsolete pesticides that have been generated by
the agricultural sector over the years. Owners of the obsolete pesticides
regard them as an urgent problem and have appealed to the State Committee for
Nature Protection to solve it.
Based on a preliminary evaluation carried out in 1996, the State Committee
for Nature Protection estimates that currently some 12,000 tons of obsolete
pesticides are stored in various places in the country, including on farms and
especially at former airstrips for pesticide-spraying airplanes. The stocks
include pesticides that have been prohibited for use, including DDT and
hexachlorine. The conditions under which these pesticides are stored are
unsatisfactory. In areas neighboring such airfields and other pesticide storage
sites high levels of soil contamination have been found with DDT concentrations
twice or three times above the quality standard.
Medical waste is generated in hospitals and clinics, but also by doctors,
dentists and veterinarians. According to the Project Implementation Unit (PIU)
for the World Bank-funded waste management project in Tashkent, the capital
generates 104,228 tons of medical waste a year (1999). Extrapolated to the
entire republic, yearly medical waste generation should be in the order of one
million tons. Experience shows that 80% or more of medical waste is comparable
to municipal solid waste, while the remaining part should be considered as
hazardous waste.
Only a few hospitals have special facilities to deal with their hazardous
waste. The tuberculosis hospital in Tashkent is equipped with an incinerator,
while other hospitals disinfect waste with chlorine. These are the only special
measures taken. In general medical waste is managed together with municipal
solid waste and used medical supplies such as syringes and infusion sets can therefore be found at municipal
landfill sites.
UNECE report notes that a variety of other waste is produced, including
construction and demolition waste, car wrecks, waste tyres, waste oils,
PCB-containing waste, etc. Most is recycled or reused although all types of
waste are disposed of as well. Car wrecks are for the most part used as
secondary raw material in the steel industry and waste oils are recovered in
accordance with the regulations of the State Committee for Oil Products. Used
PCB-containing oil, so-called ‘transformer oil’, is recovered as well and
sometimes used as engine oil in vehicles.
Market Trends
The State manages the collection and disposal
of municipal solid waste. In most cities these services are carried out by
local branches of the Agency for Communal Services or Uzkommunalhizmat.
In Tashkent, they are the responsibility of the municipal enterprise
“Mahsustrans”. Local and oblast authorities have a supervisory role. Waste
producers in principle pay for the service but the amount is symbolic. Waste discarded by waste producers is simply collected and disposed of at
city dumps. Recovery, reuse and recycling are in the main organized as a
parallel system. This State-operated system is based on the buying of reusable
or recyclable materials from waste producers. In addition to the State system, scavengers recover
recyclables from discarded waste both at the collection point and at the
dumpsites. Recyclable materials recovered from waste are eventually sold to
industries, which use the waste fractions as secondary raw materials. In spite
of the relative success of the recovery system, there are also less positive
signs. The cost of collecting glass for recycling, for instance, is said to
outweigh the financial benefits and glass production from virgin material is
said to be cheaper. Although the recovery system is not market-driven and the
State influences or even determines prices, the scavengers prove that there is
a market for recyclable materials in Uzbekistan. Due to the lack of virgin
materials, secondary raw materials are highly appreciated by industry. Metal,
glass, paper and plastic factories all work below capacity and are able to
absorb large amounts of secondary raw materials recovered from waste.
Industrial waste management is the responsibility of and mostly done by the
waste producers, i.e. the industries. The larger industrial waste producers
transport their own waste and operate their own disposal facilities. If at the
disposal sites waste types and amounts are registered, this is done by the
industries themselves. Most of the disposal sites are reported to be lined with
concrete or with a double lining system of concrete on top of a bentonite
lining.
UNECE review draws attention to the fact that most dump sites in Uzbekistan
are staffed. About half the sites are licensed; the other half should be
regarded as illegal. Eighty per cent of the sites is said to be full and should
be closed. Most dumps have been established without a proper site selection
process. Disposal facilities other
than dumps and landfills are rare in Uzbekistan. The tuberculosis hospital in
Tashkent is equipped with an incinerator, and in Navoi some industrial waste is
incinerated by the Navoiazot factory. Alternatives to dedicated incinerators
are not used. Cement kilns, which many countries use for the destruction of
hazardous wastes and used car tyres, play no role in waste disposal in
Uzbekistan. Some decades ago a composting plant operated for a while but as its
end products were contaminated, the plant was closed soon after construction.
The institution responsible for policy
development for waste management is the State Committee for Nature Protection
or Goskompriroda. The State Committee develops legal and methodical
documents and is responsible for the control and gathering of data on the
generation and disposal of waste, for the inventory of waste disposal sites and
for the collection of the fiscal fee for waste disposal. The control and
inspection of waste utilization are the responsibility of the Department for
Water and Soil Resources. Utilization of medical waste is the responsibility of
the Ministry of Health.
Commercial
Opportunities
European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) together with the World Bank financed $46
million Tashkent Solid Waste Management Project. This project is about to be
completed. Tashkent's 2.3 million residents can now appreciate cleaner
surroundings following this project, provided in 1998, to improve the city's
waste management system. The project became the EBRD's first investment in
municipality infrastructure in Uzbekistan.
The loan has financed the
renewal of the waste collection vehicle fleet; construction of four transfer
stations; purchase of landfill equipment, including bio-medical waste treatment
equipment; and the environmental rehabilitation of one landfill and the closure
of another.
The investment has also
enabled institution building, with the EBRD attracting donor funds from the
Japanese government and EC TACIS programme, and further private sector
participation in infrastructure development. The investment project has already
resulted in significant environmental and public health and safety
improvements. It has also helped the City to develop a strategic municipal
solid waste management plan.
A new project on solid waste
management (Bukhara and Samarkand Solid Waste Management Project) was in the
World Bank pipeline at the time when this report was being prepared.
Below is a brief info about this
project:
However, recently the Bank made the
following announcement:
“In pursuit of its
engagement in Uzbekistan, the World Bank will seek to develop a new strategy
focused on technical assistance, advisory services, and research activities,
but without new lending. The Bank’s approach stems from concern that the
resources of the International Development Association—the Bank’s concessional
lending facility—are increasingly constrained and should be used in countries
where the Bank can be confident that IDA-financed programs will have the greatest
impact.
The World Bank will
maintain its focus on alleviating poverty in Uzbekistan by continuing to engage
with the authorities on governance and economic recovery, and by reaching out
to civil society. Implementation of the 7 projects now underway will
continue, and the Bank also intends to proceed with a range of analytical,
capacity building and technical assistance services. If the government
wishes, the Bank will prepare and finance projects that have a 'global public
good' dimension such as Avian Flu.
The next step is for the
proposed strategy, which has yet to be fully developed, to be discussed with
the authorities in Tashkent and members of the World Bank’s Board of Executive
Directors.”
Contact person for this project is:
Janis D. Bernstein
Sr. Environmental Spec.
Tel: (202) 473-3947
Fax: (202) 614-0645
Email: Jbernstein@worldbank.org
Additional
Information:
For further information about this report, you can contact
BISNIS/U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service in Uzbekistan:
Mr. Jahangir Kakharov
BISNIS Representative in Uzbekistan
1, Khodjaev Street, Uzbekistan
Banking Association Building, 13th floor
Phone: + 998 71 138 69 76
Fax: + 998 71 138 69 77
E-mail: bisnis.tashkent@bcc.com.uz
URL: www.bisnis.doc.gov
URL: www.export.gov