Belarus plans to raise the rate of municipal solid waste recycling to 90% in 2035, Maksim Tarasov, the deputy head of the directorate for waste management, biological and landscape diversity - head of the department for waste management at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus, told the media in Minsk on 1 September, BelTA has learned.

“The national strategy provides for raising the recycling rate of solid municipal waste to 64% by 2025, 70% - by 2030, and 90% - by 2035. To achieve these goals we are planning to improve the existing system of solid municipal waste management, namely, to upgrade the system of accounting for the volume of landfills and morphological composition of MSW and secondary material resources, to develop the logistics for MSW separate collection, to fine-tune the legislation and management systems, to upgrade the infrastructure of MSW management system, to promote the use of MSW in energy production,” Maksim Tarasov noted. According to him, plans are in place to implement the MSW biological treatment technology. Such projects are to be implemented in Grodno, Mogilev and 20 cities with a population of more than 50,000.

“The MSW recycling rate is expected to reach 64% by 2025. Of these, 43% is planned to be achieved by improving the existing system of solid municipal waste management, setting up RDF fuel production facilities in Grodno Oblast and Mogilev Oblast and implementing the MSW biological treatment technology. Some 15% will be achieved thanks to the construction of energy facilities for MSW in Minsk," Maksim Tarasov said.

According him, for the maximum involvement of waste in the economic use, the MSW management system will be upgraded and transfered from the district waste management level to the regional one. Plans are also in place to set up 30 large integrated facilities for sorting and using MSW, each serving several districts. It is planned to use RDF-fuel at the enterprises of the Belarusian cement industry.

"In Belarus, the recycling rate of solid municipal waste is continuously growing. Since 2012, it has roughly doubled and stands at about 25-27% today. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection monitors and suppresses the emergence of illegal dumping sites of secondary material resources," Maksim Tarasov noted.

Source: БелТА

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has extended the Knowledge Day greetings, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian leader.

“1 September is a special date on the calendar. On the first day of autumn we all feel enthusiastic drive, recalling our school and college years - a wonderful time of finding wise mentors and true friends, the first romantic experiences, the choice of profession and the path of life,” the message of greetings reads.

The head of state noted that first graders and first-year students feel most excited about this day. The same is true about the parents of the first graders, who are just about to embark on a journey to a truly magical land of knowledge.

“What road this will be depends, first of all, on the teacher. Professionalism, love for children and active civic position of each of you deserve enormous gratitude and respect as they serve as a strong foundation for the future prosperity of Belarus and unity of its people,” the president stressed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko has wished all school children, students, postgraduates, cadets, teachers and parents to have the new academic year as a kaleidoscope of wonderful events and every day filled with joy and creation.

Source: БелТА

Belarus takes the example of China in setting up state corporations, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Subbotin said in an interview on a YouTube channel, BelTA has learned.

Speaking about the plans to transform the Belarusian state food industry concern Belgospishcheprom into a state corporation, the deputy prime minister said: “This issue has been discussed for a long time already. Times are changing and we also need to transform to be more successful and efficient. Belgospishcheprom is viewed is one of possible state corporations. We do not know yet if it would be a single corporation in the food industry. Perhaps it will be a confectionery corporation and an alcohol corporation. Scientists and managers are working to determine how to build the whole system in a better and more efficient way.”

“We take Chinese state corporations as one of the successful examples. They are more aggressive in all markets. They have a state share and state support, but they are more free in decision-making, more liberated. They can take risks economically in some way, advancing into markets. The most important thing is the centralization of management, so it would be in one hands, both in the foreign and domestic markets. We want to lay down a lot of approaches. I am not ready to answer how it will be in the end. We have even involved the Academy of Sciences. They are finishing their research work in early September, and they will defend it, offering options on how we can build this system,” said Aleksandr Subbotin.

“A state corporation is not a panacea. It may be one of the options we use to transform further,” the deputy prime minister said.

As BelTA reported earlier, on 26 August Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Belgospishcheprom Chairman Anatoly Buben and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Subbotin. One of the topics of the meeting was a proposal to set up a state corporation on the basis of the Belarusian state food concern Belgospishcheprom. The head of state approved the corresponding plans. “We talked about the setting up of a corporation. We are already working on it. At the Belarusian People's Congress the prime minister set a task to set up corporations in the country. I think it will be a step forward. The president supported this issue. He asked to calculate the feasibility of the project to see what the state would gain from this step. I reported that the corporation will let us consolidate forces and achieve better results by our joint efforts, get more profit and make more marketable products,” the head of the concern told reporters.

“The draft presidential decree is ready. I promised to submit it to the Council of Ministers on 1 September. The president said that if it is economically feasible, then a new corporation in the food industry should be launched at the start of the next year,” said Anatoly Buben.

Source: БелТА

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko today, during a working trip to Logoisk district, demanded to deal with indiscipline and lack of performance in agriculture, BelTA has learned.

At the Ostroshitsy farm, the head of state was informed about the prospects for the development of grain harvesters. The occasion for the event was an unusual jubilee: the day before, it was 25 years since Gomselmash started producing Belarusian harvesters on behalf of the President.

"THE EVENT IS SOME SYMBOLOGICAL. BUT DEDICATED TO AN VERY IMPORTANT STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR STATE. EVEN NOT AGRICULTURE. THERE WAS, AND THERE WAS NOTHING TO CLEAN IT. AND THEN SERIOUS DECISIONS HAVE BEEN TAKEN IN THE PLAN OF WHAT TO REMOVE BREAD, "ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO NOTED.

At the same time, the head of state could not ignore the negative aspects, noting the mismanagement of machinery and crops during the harvest. “We know how to do everything, but this carelessness, indiscipline, lack of performance is a disaster. We have to end it,” the President demanded.

At the Ostroshitsy farm, the head of state was informed about the prospects for the development of grain harvesters. The occasion for the event was an unusual jubilee: the day before, it was 25 years since Gomselmash started producing Belarusian harvesters on behalf of the President.

"The event is somewhat symbolic. But it is dedicated to a very important stage in the development of our state. Not even agriculture. We remember well when people had nothing to eat, people had to be fed. And without bread, how? It happened that some kind of bread in the field was, but there was nothing to clean it with. And then serious decisions were made in terms of what to clean the bread with, "Alyaksandr Lukashenka reminded.

According to the head of state, this decision, made a quarter of a century ago, was difficult. Opinions were heard to abandon the production of our own harvesting equipment and buy it in Germany. However, in a couple of years, Belarusian industrialists managed to produce their own car. "This made it possible for us to approach the creation of completely new combines, which today are already competing with the same German ones," the President stressed.

At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko could not ignore the negative aspects, noting the mismanagement of machinery and crops during the harvest. “We know how to do everything, but this carelessness, indiscipline, lack of performance is a catastrophe. We need to end it,” the head of state demanded.

For 25 years, the domestic grain harvesting machine building has achieved a lot. Today, 11 models of equipment are produced in 75 modifications. Another 7 new models will be launched in the near future.

According to Alexander Novikov, General Director of Gomselmash, if last year the holding produced just over 1.8 thousand self-propelled vehicles, then in the first half of the year - almost 1,000 units of equipment. "We plan to produce 2,170 cars by the end of the year. We have already formed a package of orders by the middle of next year," he informed the President.

Alexander Novikov told the head of state about the prospects for the development of the enterprise, the improvement of existing models of combines and the development of new ones. Alexander Lukashenko recalled his demand for more active import substitution, although a lot has been done in this direction at Gomselmash: over the past five years, the import intensity of production has been halved.

“This must be done. Otherwise, we will make the hardware, but we buy smart units - hydraulics, electronics - in the West. We must do it ourselves,” the President stressed.

At the Ostroshitsy farm, the head of state got acquainted with samples of grain harvesters, other agricultural machinery and import-substituting products (components for grain harvesters produced by Belarusian enterprises). There were also demonstrated the seeding units of OJSC "Lidagroprommash", which is part of the holding "Gomselmash", and the holding "AMKODOR".

Source: Minsk-region.gov.by

Experts of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) are expected to visit the site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on 31 August – 2 September, the press service of the Belarusian Energy Ministry told BelTA.

According to the source, ENSREG experts will work at the site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant as part of the second phase of the peer review of the national action plan, which was put together as a result of stress tests of the nuclear power plant. The group will include 15 experts from Austria, Germany, Ukraine, Czechia, Switzerland, Lithuania, Greece, and Finland. Petteri Tiippana, Director General of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), will head the group.

The experts will evaluate progress in fulfilling the national action plan taking into account the recommendations ENSREG gave in 2018. They will analyze progress in the realization of planned measures by the Belarusian side. The experts will focus on three aspects of the stress tests: external natural impact, loss of power and loss of the ultimate heat sink, and the management of severe accidents.

The first phase of the peer review by ENSREG took place in Q1 2021. ENSREG experts visited the Belarusian nuclear power plant site in February 2021. They went to all the facilities they were interested in, including the reactor room of the second unit, the control room of the first unit, the backup diesel power generator building, the fire station, the accident prevention control room, the full-scale simulator in the education and training center. They were made familiar with all the materials they had requested. The work focused on seven priority areas, which had to be analyzed before the first unit was commissioned.

As a result of the first phase a preliminary report was passed by a plenary session of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group in March 2021. A statement made by ENSREG Chairperson Marta Ziakova pointed out the progress Belarus had made in acting upon ENSREG recommendations on priority matters of the national action plan. The ENSREG head spoke in positive terms about cooperation with the Belarusian side.

Source: БелТА