The Swedish government has launched a new technical assistance project for Ukraine entitled "Strengthening of household waste management for 2024-2027".
This was reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
This comprehensive program of international technical assistance is designed for several years. It will be implemented by the Swedish Waste Management Association Avfall Swerige and Salar International, an organization that takes care of local governments and represents Swedish municipalities.
The project was created by the Swedish government as a result of agreements with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi 2 years ago. In July of this year, the Program was approved by the Swedish Agency for International Cooperation and Development, SIDA.
Swedish experts analyzed the situation with waste in Ukraine and outlined directions for cooperation between our countries.
The program will have 10 components, which will be implemented at the national and regional levels. As an example, the Ministry of Environment named the following of them:
- new approaches to tariff formation in the field of waste management, as well as the introduction of the "polluter pays" principle in Ukraine;
- waste management planning according to European standards. In particular, assistance to regions in the development of regional and local plans;
- processing of biological waste. Preparation of guidelines taking into account the experience of European countries;
- introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) in Ukraine;
- implementation of a systematic approach to reducing the volume of gases generated at landfills. According to expert estimates, 4-5% of the world's gas volumes are generated precisely at Ukrainian landfills. This indicator can be halved if appropriate equipment is installed at 400-500 of the largest Ukrainian landfills;
- organization of assistance in the form of equipment from Swedish municipalities to Ukrainian ones, with the possibility of involving other European countries, etc.
Svitlana Grynchuk believes that the quality of development of regional and local plans will affect the level of interest of investors to work in Ukraine. She is convinced of the urgent need to have detailed high-quality regional and local waste management plans. It is they who should become the proposal for which it will be possible to find investors.
Along with this, as part of the Program, Ukraine and Sweden plan to:
- Implement 4 pilot projects on the ground according to the cluster principle.
- Establish dialogue and exchange of experience between Ukrainian and Swedish municipalities.
- Prepare relevant investment cases.
The other day, EcoPolitic reported that Italy will finance construction of two powerful waste processing plants in Transcarpathia.
