Forum “Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP): reduction and safe disposal of waste”

Nowadays the accumulation of industrial and domestic wastes is one of the most dangerous problems for environment in Ukraine. The annual increase of water and soils pollution with the wastes of coal, chemical, construction, metallurgical industries, municipal facilities and agricultural enterprises reaches alarming proportions. The situation with hazardous waste treatment is getting worse and their storage is often carried out with the breaking of environmental safety rules. According to data from 2014, in Ukraine is annually produced up to 1 billion tons of industrial and household wastes, the volume of their accumulation for 1 km of the total area is over 45 thousands tones and it puts our country at one of the first places in the world in terms of technological loading. Taking into consideration this disappointing statistics, we can conclude that there is an eventual necessity in Ukraine to create an effective system of managing different types of wastes, with the focus on environmental safety and resource efficiency. One of the first steps on the way to such system is the correct and clear presention of the information to society and industry and motivation of individuals and industrial enterprises to follow the established priorities. It is also very important to determine and create the conditions for prevention and/or reduction of wastes, their safe removal and maximum possible use as secondary raw materials.

Forum “Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP): reduction and safe disposal of waste”, that was held on December 15, 2015 in Kyiv in Orchus Information and Educational Center (35, Vasilya Lipkivs’kogo street) under the support of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Centre in Ukraine, Orchus Information and Educational Center and State Ecological Academy of Post-Graduate Education and Management of Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, was aimed to draw up the attention of wide range of interested parties, in particular representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, NGOs, science and education, government agencies and others to the waste problem and ways of its solvation foreseen by the concept of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) in a framework of “Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighborhood of European Union (EaP GREEN)” programme. The mentioned programme supports participating countries in their transition to a "green economy" and boost the "green business". Participants of the program are six countries of EU Eastern Neighborhood: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The programme is funded by the European Commission (EC) and other donor-countries and is implemented by the joint action of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). One of the components of EaP GREEN programme is UNIDO demonstration project for realization and expansion of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP).

The work of the forum was opened by Mariia Tsybka, National Coordinator of EaP Green demonstration project in Ukraine, Jean-Francois Moret, Sector Manager Energy, Environment, Green Economy, Civil Protection European Union Delegation to Ukraine, Oleksandr Bondar, Rector of The State Ecological Academy of Post-Graduate Education and Management and Galyna Serova, Head of Orchus Information and Educational Center of State Ecological Academy of Post-Graduate Education and Management. Greeting words to the present addressed Nataliya Trofimenko, National Focal Pointof EaP Green programme in Ukraine, Luidmyla Musina, UNIDO Coordinator in Ukraine and Eugene Fedorenko, Head of the Department of Environmental Safety and Waste Management of Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

Kateryna Pryimak, National Сommunication and Advocacy Expert, who was also the moderator of the forum, told the participants about the RECP concept - Reduction and safe disposal of waste. Tamara Ovodenko, from the Department of Environmental Safety and Waste Management of Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine in her speech “Waste treatment in Ukraine: main problems, license activities and control” outlined up-to-date trends of State of the environmental policy in a sphere of waste management. The main problems of the industrial enterprises in generation and safe waste utilization were highlighted by Galyna Vygovska, Head of the Department of Environmental safety of the State Ecological Academy of Post-Graduate Education and Management (lecture “Status of the waste problem in Ukraine”), Tetyana Kozachenko, Assistant Professor of the Department of Environmental safety of The State Ecological Academy of Post-Graduate Education and Management (lecture “Theoretical and methodological principles of the definition " the best available technology") and Oleksandr Chubenko, Head of the Commission on Industrial Waste of Public Council under Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine (lecture “The necessity of development of strategy and new regulatory legal acts of priority use of raw materials obtained from the industrial wastes”).

Taras Ivashchenko and Inna Denysenko from The Chair of Environmental Audit and Expertise, SEA and Oksana Kokhaniuk, Coordinator of Environmental Projects of All-Ukrainian Environmental League shared the experience of the enterprises regarding the waste treatment and minimization by holding the speeches “Clean technologies of oil industry equipment contaminated with radiation sources of natural origin” and “Treatment of hazardous waste in Ukraine” respectively.

Upon the completion of the presentations and coffee breaks, Forum participants were invited to debate and exchange experiences on effective waste management, and to take part in a survey on topical problems of reduction and safe disposal of waste. All participants had the opportunity to express their views on the challenges, opportunities and motivation of the enterprises in addressing the issues raised, to comment on the performances of the participants, suggest new ideas and exchange useful contacts. Participants expressed observations and comments that will be considered and taken into account by the project team EaP GREEN in further implementing of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) concept in Ukraine.

Agenda in Ukrainian

Demonstration component "Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production" of "Greening Economies in the European Union's Eastern Neighbourhood" (EaP GREEN) programme funded by the European Union.