russia on the Verge of a “Garbage Collapse”

At least thirty regions in russia lack landfills for solid waste disposal, so the authorities want to extend the operation of unauthorized dumps for another three years, until 2029. This term had already been extended from 2023 to 2026.

The shortage of capacity is observed in “hard-to-reach and remote regions”, in particular in the Amur Region, Yakutia, Kamchatka, and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In many of them, there are “absolutely no facilities for waste disposal”,  while  harsh climatic conditions make the construction of new landfills extremely expensive and time-consuming.

The closure of old landfills in 2026 could cause a “garbage collapse,” but there are no funds to build new ones due to the “socio-economic situation” in the country. The remaining capacity of landfills built in 2022–2025 will be used up by 2030.

By the end of 2023, the area of landfills in the rf  exceeded four million hectares – an area comparable to the Netherlands or Switzerland.

Back in 2018, putin promised to build at least 200 waste processing plants in russia by 2024, but like most of his “national projects”,  this promise remained on paper. Despite grandiose statements about environmental reform, the country continues to drown in its own waste. And this has become yet another symbol of the empire’s decay.