The Ministry of Environmental Protection held a meeting of the working group to discuss financial guarantees provided by the draft law "On Mining Waste Management".
This was reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.
The Ministry notes that the problem of waste from the extractive industry in Ukraine is complex, as its scale is among the highest in Europe. This waste is generated during the extraction, enrichment and processing of minerals and often contains hazardous chemical compounds.
"We inherited the bulk of this waste from the Soviet era, but a lot of it is still being generated today. To solve the problem of their accumulation and meet the requirements for joining the EU, the Ministry of Ecology, together with international experts, has prepared a draft law "On the Management of Extractive Industry Waste," explains Yevhen Fedorenko, head of the working group, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.
The draft law establishes legal, economic, and organizational principles for the effective management of extractive industry waste in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment and ensure the health and safety of citizens.
It is envisaged that a significant number of by-laws and regulations will need to be developed to regulate the process of closure and effective maintenance of facilities for extractive industry waste after their closure. Particular attention is focused on establishing requirements for the financial security of the operator operating the extractive industry waste management facilities.
"The dialog between the main stakeholders is constructive and yields good results. For example, during this meeting, together with the National Bank of Ukraine, we considered the issue of bank guarantees and escrow accounts. We also engaged the Association of Insurers of Ukraine to resolve the issue of the possibility of insuring post-operational costs of mining waste operators under martial law," said Yevheniia Popovych, Director of the Department of Digital Transformation, Electronic Public Services and Waste Management of the Ministry of Ecology.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has developed a draft law "On the Management of Extractive Industry Waste" and announced the start of its discussion.
