The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has developed a draft law "On the Management of Waste from the Extractive Industry" and announced the start of its discussion.
The document defines a unified mechanism for developing and amending waste management plans for enterprises, taking into account the specifics of their activities, the Ministry of Environment reports.
The draft law "On waste management of the extractive industry" provides for:
- bringing national terminology into line with European terminology;
- new approaches to object classification for mining industry waste;
- determination of the duties of all market participants;
- regulating the activities of enterprises during the management of such waste and operation of facilities, closure and implementation of post-operational measures;
- settlement of the issue of man-made deposits, as well as management of abandoned objects;
- formulation of requirements for obtaining permits in the field of waste management of the extractive industry, as well as state control of the extractive industry;
- determination of requirements for financial support of the operator for the operation of waste management facilities of the extractive industry;
- responsibility for violation of legal requirements.
It is noted that waste from the mining industry constitutes the largest part of all waste in the country. Ukraine is the leader in Europe in terms of the volume of generation of such waste, in particular due to the "inheritance" from Soviet times and the systematic generation of new waste. Part of the industrial waste contains dangerous chemicals that threaten the environment and human health.
"In order to correct the situation, it is important to bring the national legal framework into compliance with EU legislation, in particular, to implement the Framework Directive No. 2006/21/EC," the message emphasized.
In the explanatory note to the draft law, it is stated that the waste of the extractive industry is generated during the extraction, beneficiation and processing of minerals. The large amount of such waste generation is due to the fact that the necessary minerals make up only a small part of the total mass of the extracted material.
Traditionally, waste from the mining industry is placed in dumps, sludge storage facilities, tailings storage facilities, landfills, and other storage facilities. This method of storage occupies large areas of land, particularly fertile land, and is often a source of air, soil, and groundwater pollution.
"The extractive industry plays an important role in the economy of Ukraine and constitutes the future for the industrial development and economic growth of the country, as natural resources are the initial link in the chain of production of a competitive product," the explanatory note said, adding that the state receives revenues from provision of subsoil for use, as well as the industry creates a significant number of jobs.
During the development of the draft law, the Ministry of Environment team worked together with European experts and main stakeholders (interested parties).
Comments and suggestions on the draft law can be sent until March 20 to the address of Mindovkillya (35 Metropolitan Vasyl Lypkivskyi St., Kyiv, 03035) or e-mail (bannikova@mepr.gov.ua).
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the Cabinet of Ministers approved the plan of priority actions for 2024, in particular in the field of environmental protection. In particular, in March, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources should submit a draft law "On waste from the extractive industry".
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources developed a draft order "On approval of the Procedure for the development of waste management plans of enterprises, institutions and organizations" and announced the start of its discussion.
