Zhytomyr is the first and only city in Ukraine to have a fully operational waste-processing plant. This happened as recently as 2023, yet the facility is already facing the threat of shutdown. The reasons are primarily economic, and the city government is implicated. And surrounding the landfill, there are a number of criminal cases involving both illegal dumps and allegations of embezzlement.
StopCor reported on this in its video.
The collapse of optimism
In 2023, Zhytomyr was held up as an example of how to organize household waste management in a rational and civilized manner. At that time, the waste processing plant of MS Social Project LLC was officially opened. Notably, the facility was built with private funds, without drawing on the state or local budget.
Now the facility may be shut down due to economic difficulties, as the current tariff does not meet modern conditions.
"We will be forced to stop operations. And with that, the project of a successful waste processing plant will come to an end," said the company’s managing partner Yevhenii Barakh.
The city sees no grounds for change
In Zhytomyr, the waste processing tariff set in 2022 is still in effect. Since then, the cost of electricity, diesel fuel, and tax burdens have increased dramatically. If a company’s cost structure increases substantially, a Cabinet of Ministers’ decree allows for tariffs to be reviewed. However, as reported by StopCor, the city refuses to do so.
"The latest cost calculations submitted by MS Social Project LLC do not allow the tariff to be adjusted upwards. It is deemed that the current tariff is justified as is today," commented Deputy Mayor Serhii Kondratiuk.
Therefore, the company is now preparing new justifications, but its representatives remain skeptical. They note that they have never requested financial support from the city during wartime, asking only for fair tariff regulation.
The landfill poisons the community
If not the waste processing plant, then there is only one alternative for waste from Zhytomyr – the landfill. However, it is already associated with numerous environmental problems.
The landfill is located between a forest, a quarry, and an unnamed stream. Toxins from the site pollute the area, as confirmed by the Polissia District State Environmental Inspectorate. In particular, the concern is about untreated leachate. KATP 0626, the company managing the landfill, has already paid 840,000 UAH in environmental damages. Separately, the company is being demanded to stop polluting the river.
"The only thing we can do is pump the leachate from the retention ponds onto the landfill’s working sections and main body, thus increasing the evaporation area. It is necessary to process and neutralize this leachate," said KATP’s Chief Engineer Andrii Kudak about the company’s limited capabilities.
In spring of 2025, the landfill became the source of another ecological disaster – a fire broke out there and toxic smoke covered nearby neighborhoods. As a result, criminal proceedings were initiated against the company’s director for official negligence and pollution.
Notorious director
Проте керівник КATП 0626 Serhiy Kolesnyk is also implicated in other criminal cases. In 2020, he was elected to the city council as a deputy from the now-banned OPZZh party. Already in 2024, he received a notice of suspicion from law enforcement agencies.
Kolesnyk appeared in the prosecutor's materials as the organizer of a criminal group that embezzled budget funds. In one case, it concerned 667,000 UAH for waste removal; in another, 812,000 UAH for street cleaning.
While the pretrial investigation was ongoing, Kolesnyk was unable to manage the enterprise for almost half a year. However, he is currently in his position.
Additional logistics nuances
At the beginning of 2026, law enforcement officers caught the private enterprise "VZhREP No. 4" red-handed. Its trucks were dumping waste not at the landfill but next to it. Among the waste were medical materials labeled "Highly dangerous," which must be disposed of only under strict protocols.
Source: "Stop Corruption TV"
A criminal case was opened on this fact, and searches were conducted at the enterprise's director, Volodymyr Tychyna. However, he called the case fabricated and shifted responsibility to KATP 0626.
It is noteworthy that "VZhREP No. 4" is not listed among the officially approved municipal solid waste carriers. This was stated by Deputy Mayor Kondratiuk.
However, the enterprise continues to collect and remove waste. The landfill does not allow the trucks in, so the garbage is dumped next to the landfill, on a public road, and in an area that previously housed a manufacturing site.
EcoPolitic previously reported that leachate from the landfill was the cause of mass fish deaths in the Kroshenka River.
In Lutsk, during the reconstruction of the landfill, public funds were likely embezzled.
In Poltava region, there are plans to build four waste processing plants.
