In the Brovarsky and Boryspilsky districts of the Kyiv region, hazardous waste from oil and gas drilling—drilling mud—is being dumped in illegal landfills instead of being properly disposed of.
The violations were revealed by journalist Sofia Kutsenko after an investigation conducted for the publication StopCor.
Landfill or garbage dump?
One of the most telling examples is the situation in the Brovarsky district. According to documents, a landfill for the disposal of drilling sludge from VTORMAG LLC should be operating here. This company has official permission from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. However, journalists found only an illegal landfill at the specified location.
Photo: stopcor.org.
The situation is similar in the Boryspil district. The local landfill has a permit for sludge disposal obtained by ECO-ENERGOPROM LLC. However, journalists did not see any special equipment for processing hazardous waste here. In addition, the waste is stored in the open air without tanks or special containers.
Photo: stopcor.org.
According to the landfill guard, the landfill has not been in operation for many years. However, journalists noticed fresh tracks from trucks and captured a vehicle unloading waste from a drone.
How it should be
In the European Union, the processing of drilling waste is regulated by the EU Waste Directive. It provides for recycling, reuse in construction, burial, surface spreading, reinjection into the formation, or thermal treatment. These measures are taken to minimize the impact of this waste on the environment.
According to Tetyana Tymochko, head of the All-Ukrainian Ecological League, most landfills in Ukraine have long since reached the end of their useful life or were not suitable for hazardous waste disposal from the outset. Accordingly, this state of affairs leads to constant contamination of soil and groundwater.
A slow-acting ecological bomb
In total, the investigation conducted by the publication covered several regions of Ukraine. Journalists visited Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, and Vinnytsia regions. They saw numerous violations: from the lack of specialized landfills to fictitious companies that have valid permits from the Ministry of Environment to process hazardous waste.
StopCorruption emphasized that against the backdrop of Naftogaz's increase in gas production, the issue of drilling mud disposal is becoming increasingly acute.
“If the authorities continue to turn a blind eye to this, the environmental consequences for Ukraine could be fatal,” the investigators stated.
They also sent requests for tours and comments to all companies that have permits for the disposal of drilling mud. StopCorruption is now awaiting responses.
Recently, EcoPolitic reported that in the Odesa region, municipal workers dumped fragments of a lyceum destroyed by the Russians, along with toxic rocket fuel residues and fragments of rocket weapons, on the seashore.
