Poltava eco-activists called on communal ATP №1628 to create conditions for composting organic waste in order to avoid a repeat of the tragedy at the Hrybovitsky landfill.
After all, the largest share of the community's garbage is organic waste, and during January 2023, 2 fires occurred at the Makuhiv landfill, reports Ecoltava.
This landfill is located 1.5 km from Poltava and 600 meters from the village of Makuhivka.
The authors emphasized that landfill fires threaten both human health and the environment, because:
- toxic substances are released during combustion;
- carbon dioxide and water vapor enter the air, which contributes to climate change;
- prolonged landfill fires can cause landslides.
They also emphasized that the landfill has a negative impact on the residents of the village of Makuhivka, because:
- the air has a constant stench and the smell of smoldering plastic;
- in the water of mine wells, which the population consumes for economic and drinking purposes, the content of nitrates, fluorides, total iron, and total hardness is excessive. The content of heavy metals – manganese and hexavalent chromium – was detected in the water. Consumption of such water has a negative effect on health and causes various diseases;
- constant threats of fires;
- there is no additional transport connection with the city – the only road runs through the landfill;
- birds that feed on waste in the landfill spread pathogens and helminth eggs.
The article emphasized that for a global solution to the problem, it is possible to close the landfill and build a waste processing plant in the city, separately sort and compost organics.
Nadiya Groz, an expert of the public organization Ekoltava, said that the largest share is organic waste (food waste, green waste, etc.). This was shown by the morphological study of household waste in Poltava in 2022, which was conducted by the Ekoltava team.
"There is no separate sorting of them in the city, so they all end up in the landfill. As a result of their rotting, a large amount of flammable methane gas is formed in the body of the landfill, she said. – Therefore, at the local level, the solution is to sort organic waste from household waste. Such sorted waste can later be turned into compost."
The material emphasized that in 2022, Ekoltava developed recommendations for KATP-1628 regarding the organization and development of the household waste management system in the Poltava territorial community, in particular large-sized, repair waste and waste of green spaces.
The authors believe that when dealing with waste, it is necessary to take into account not only the current legislation in the field of waste management, but also take into account the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Waste Management", which will enter into force on July 9, 2023.
"Separate collection of waste in settlements is carried out for such types of waste as paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, metal. At the same time, conditions are created to ensure separate collection of bio-waste, textiles, hazardous waste as part of household and other types of waste subject to separate collection," the law states.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in Poltava, despite the presence of containers for sorting garbage, more than a third of garbage cans (38.5%) are filled with glass, paper and plastic. This indicates low level of waste sorting in the community.
