Belarusians have been showing a growing interest in separate waste collection in recent years, Vadim Demko, head of the waste management department of the waste management, biological and landscape diversity directorate at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, said during an online conference on BelTA's website.
"Belarusians' interest in separate waste collection is growing, which is reflected in the statistics. For example, in 2019 the rate of secondary raw materials collected from solid municipal waste came at 22.6%, up by 3.8% over 2018 (18.8% in 2018)," Vadim Demko said.
According to him, the most effective motivation measures include raising purchase prices for secondary raw materials and propaganda of environmental consciousness, including with the help of mass media.
Vadim Demko also spoke about recycling of hazardous waste. “Our current capacities for using or disposing of waste are enough to cope with the inflow of waste. At the same time, applying the best available technical methods in waste management is one of the main principles of work in this field. New players on this market will create competition and, as a result, the most technologically advanced enterprises will remain on the market,” he said.
In 2019, around 1,500 containers for waste batteries and mercury-containing light bulbs were installed in Minsk, Vadim Demko noted. Belarus collected 86 tonnes of waste batteries (76 tonnes in 2018) and over 346,000 mercury-containing light bulbs (107,000 in 2018).