Number of industrial enterprises to reduce harmful emissions by 30%
To address issues of increased air pollution in Ust-Kamenogorsk and Temirtau, as well as the disposal of oil waste in Mangistau region, the Ministry reached an agreement with a number of companies on reducing emissions. This was stated by Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Magzum Mirzagaliyev at the reporting meeting with the population, Strategy2050.kz reports.
“In particular, Arcelor Mittal Temirtau pledged to reduce emissions by 30% by 2024, KazZinc will reduce volumes of sulfur dioxide by 20%. Over the next few years, KazMunayGas will eliminate historical oil waste of 3.6 million cubic meters. Work on other projects will continue”, Mirzagaliyev said.
He also spoke about the situation with municipal solid waste (MSW).
“At present, 125 million tons of MSW are accumulated at 3.2 thousand landfills in the country. About 5 million tons of municipal solid waste are generated annually in the country. The annual growth of municipal waste is 5%. More than 70% of the population is provided with waste collection and collection services. We have practically exhausted the capacity of the landfills, the vast majority of which (more than 80%) do not comply with environmental and sanitary standards. In the regions there is no appropriate infrastructure for the processing of garbage”, the Minister said.
At the same time, thanks to the extended producer responsibility mechanism introduced in 2016, the share of recycling solid waste increased 6 times from 2.6% in 2016 to 15% in 2019. However, according to Mirzagaliyev, this is not enough, in the developed countries this indicator exceeds 30%.
According to the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan, separate collection has been introduced in 94 settlements, sorting of solid waste has been introduced in 80 settlements, 218 enterprises are involved in the collection, sorting and processing of solid waste.
