Vyacheslav Sorokovskyi, DESPRO expert, shares on whether the National Household Solid Waste Management Strategy will change the attitude of Ukrainians towards garbage.

Iryna Solomko: How do you assess the National Household Solid Waste Management Strategy (hereinafter – the HSW), which should now be approved by the line ministry?

Vyacheslav Sorokovskyi: There are several levels of this problem. An entity of a different level is being now created in the state – that is an amalgamated hromada, facing somewhat different issues and having a different approach to their solving, in particular, regarding the establishment of efficient communal services, therefore the waste management mechanism should be a bit different. What should it be like? AH is a larger territory including, by definition, several settlements, which were once autonomous communities and now need to jointly address the issue uniting everyone. Thus, it is important to direct the AH to a strategic vision. We felt it well in an intermunicipal project, where there were three players that had to coordinate their interests: where to start, how to promote the service in hromadas, especially where it has never existed before. After all, in cities, as a rule, this service exists, but in rural areas waste management is organised either at the basic level or is not provided at all.

In fact, AH is now one territory, that could possibly be an intermunicipal project in the past. On the other hand, even the formation of AH does not settle the issue of the scale of waste management service in order for it to be effective, because hromadas are still relatively small, albeit capable by definition. But unfortunately, most of them are not capable enough to organise a full cycle of waste management.

Therefore, DESPRO says that AHs need to think of not trying to organise a full cycle of waste management alone, since they are unlikely to succeed in it, they have to think about amalgamation. There is a place for intermunicipal cooperation, and the relevant law granting different ways of hromadas’ agreement and organisations for effective services provision has been already working for almost three years.

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