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Solid waste
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4.4.6 Solid waste
Solid waste pollution refers to adverse effects associated with the introduction of solid waste materials into water bodies or their environs. The transboundary status of the issue is shown in Table 4.1. However, based on the prioritisation exercise detailed in Chapter 4, this issue was not considered a priority transboundary issue. Consequently, detailed causal chain analysis beyond the immediate causes of the issue was not carried out.
Environmental impacts
The impacts of this issue are linked closely with those of a number of other issues including flooding events and elevated groundwater levels (Section 4.3.3) and modification and loss of ecosystems and ecotones (Section 4.5). The impacts of other water resource pollution issues in this section such as chemical and microbiological pollution, eutrophication, suspended solids and accidental spills and releases (Section 4.4) are also closely linked.
Deterioration of surface water and groundwater quality
Industrial and municipal solid waste disposal sites pose a continuous threat of environmental pollution. Groundwater quality is affected by leachate generated at waste dumps and landfills located all over the Basin, and there is a potential danger of surface water pollution due to leachate migration with groundwater flow. Waste landfills present a significant impact to groundwater quality in the Basin, particularly in waterlogged areas with elevated groundwater levels. However, leachate generated at landfill sites is also able to migrate through underlying rocks and affect deep aquifers.
The storage and management of highly toxic waste represents a potential source of surface water and groundwater contamination and is a serious issue in the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine. Another area of concern is the management and disposal of sludge generated by municipal wastewater treatment plants. Generally, the practice of mechanical de-watering sludge is limited to large urban centres such as Minsk and Mogilev. Considerable quantities of sludge have accumulated in sludge fields attached to municipal wastewater treatment plants, posing a threat of groundwater pollution.
Deterioration of terrestrial ecosystems
A number of adverse effects on the natural environment, including the effects of waste landfill sites, have resulted in a dramatic reduction in the area of forests (approximately by twofold over the past century), fish stocks and wildlife. For further information on the effects of waste disposal sites in the basin, refer to Section 3.1.4 on mineral resources.
Immediate causes
The following immediate causes contribute to solid waste generation in the Dnipro Basin (also refer to Section 4.2):
- The high rate of solid waste generation in the Basin;
- The large quantity of unorganised waste dumps and industrial waste disposal sites, especially in Ukraine;
- Accumulation of waste generated by mining industries.
1. The high rate of solid waste generation in the Basin.
The situation in the Russian Federation can be illustrated by waste statistics from the Kursk Oblast where about 1,200 million tonnes of waste have accumulated at official (organised) waste disposal sites. Annual waste generation includes 1.5 million m3 of municipal solid waste and about 200,000 tonnes of industrial waste. Only 20% of generated waste is recycled. About 1 million m3 of municipal solid waste is generated annually in the Bryansk Oblast and the majority is disposed of illegally.
The annual amount of solid waste generated in the Republic of Belarus can be broken down by major categories as follows: industrial solid waste (88%), municipal solid waste (10%) and municipal effluent treatment sludge (2%). The range of generated industrial solid wastes includes about 800 waste types. The major waste generators in the territory of Belarus are shown below:
- The Starobinsk Potassium Deposit: over 550 million tonnes of solid waste and 65 million tonnes of liquid waste have accumulated in an area of 5,000 hectares;
- The BelarusKaliy Enterprise in Soligorsk: about 680 million tonnes of halite waste and clay/saline sludge;
- The Gomel Chemical Plant: over 15 million tonnes of phospho-gypsum;
- MSW landfills in Minsk, Gomel, Mogilev, Svetlogorsk, Bobruisk and Pinsk have accumulated over 5 million tonnes of waste.
In Ukraine, annual waste generation in the Dnipro Basin has varied between 424 and 458 million tonnes during the years 1996 to 2000 and is dominated by mining industry waste (about 90%, when compared to 1.5% accounted for by municipal solid waste). Solid waste disposal sites occupy about 84,000 hectares, containing about 12 billion tonnes of waste material. Major waste generating regions are:
- The Krivy Rih Iron-Ore Field: 7.1 billion tonnes;
- The Kremenchug area: 1.8 billion tonnes;
- The Western Donbass area: 0.2 billion tonnes.
2. Large quantity of unorganised waste dumps and industrial waste disposal sites, especially in Ukraine.
Solid waste material can be grouped into three main categories: industrial solid waste, municipal solid waste and wastewater sludge. The current situation regarding waste management and disposal is critical, with many existing sites in a very poor condition, operating illegally and not meeting ecological and sanitary requirements. A number of disposal sites have been commissioned which are currently operating without basic documentation and permits. Toxic waste poses a major threat to the environment, as it is often stored at industrial sites that generally lack the capacity for the correct storage and management of this material. There are reports of toxic waste such as mercury and arsenic being disposed of at municipal dumps and landfills.
There are many illegal dumps in the Russian Federation. The Kursk Oblast has 32 waste disposal sites occupying 80 hectares. Only one site (in the Oktyabrsky District) can be described as an engineered landfill, constructed and operated on the basis of approved design. The existing capacity for the reception and storage of industrial waste at this site has now been reached, and significant investment is required for its expansion and upgrade.
Sanitary landfills are present in all larger connurbations in Belarus (Minsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Svetlogorsk, Orsha, Bobruisk, and Pinsk). However, the existing waste recycling capacity is extremely low Approximately 15% of generated municipal solid waste is currently managed and disposed of properly, with only 4% of waste being recycled at the State Municipal Enterprise, the sole specialised waste recycling facility in Belarus. There are numerous illegal municipal solid waste dumps. There are 7 industrial waste disposal sites in the Republic of Belarus, with a total area of 1,405 hectares. The largest industrial waste disposal sites are:
- A storage site for halite waste and clay/saline sludge, generated by the ‘BelarusKaliy’ Enterprise in Soligorsk, occupying 1,350 hectares;
- A phospho-gypsum waste site for the Gomel Chemical Plant, occupying over 60 hectares;
- A storage site for hydrolysis process waste generated by lignin plants in Bobruisk and Rechitsa (20 hectares); and
- An ash disposal site for the Svetlogorsk thermal power plant (55 hectares).
A waste inventory compiled in the mid-1990s in Ukraine indicated that out of a total of 2,670 waste disposal sites, 1,310 were located in the Dnipro Basin. It should be noted that these figures do not account for the numerous on-site waste storage facilities and smaller dumps in rural areas. The total area of waste disposal sites and dumps was estimated to be 84,000 hectares. A waste disposal site audit, carried out by the Environmental Inspectorate of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine in 1995-1996, covered 2,208 sites (580 industrial and 1,628 municipal) occupying an area of 35,400 hectares. The audit findings indicated that none of these sites met existing environmental safety requirements. Only 23% of these were reported to have at least some form of design, and only 32% were equipped with observation wells.
Many sites are reaching or have reached capacity. The situation with regard to municipal solid waste management is critical. For instance, the Zaporizhzhia Oblast has 27 operating landfills, 325 waste dumps in rural areas, and 373 cattle burial grounds. There are 201 waste dumps in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and 366 waste dumps in the Poltava Oblast. None of the rural waste disposal sites and cattle burial grounds meet environmental safety requirements. The Zhitomyr and Volyn Oblasts are reported to have no specialised facilities for the reception and disposal of toxic waste and this material is currently disposed of at sanitary landfills or dumped illegally.
There are 44 mining waste dumpsites near Kryvy Rih (on the Right-Bank of the Dnipro catchment), where 1.64 km3 of mining waste occupies an area of 69 km2. In the Kremenchug area (the Left-Bank of the Dnipro catchment), 11 waste dumpsites occupy an area of 5.4 km2. The Samara River basin drains the largest coal-mining area in Ukraine, the Western Donbass, where over 20 million m2 of mining waste are stored at 13 dumps occupying an area of over 100 hectares.
Another area of concern is the management and disposal of sludge, generated by municipal wastewater treatment plants. In Belarus, the practice of mechanical dewatering sludge is limited to the large urban centres of Minsk and Mogilev. Considerable quantities of sludge have accumulated at sludge fields attached to municipal wastewater treatment plants and poses a threat of groundwater pollution.
Underlying sectoral causes
The underlying causes of sold waste generation are mainly associated with resource uses and practices dominating the following sectors: industry, agriculture and urbanisation (Section 4.2).
