Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

try and exit of waste and the transit of waste through the country. In 2018, the Republic of Azerbaijan National Sol- id Waste Management Strategy for 2018–2022 was adopted. One of the main outcomes expect- ed from the implementation of the strategy is the improvement of solid waste collection, transpor- tation, treatment and neutralization processes. In addition, the Action Plan to Reduce the Neg- ative Impact of Plastic Packaging Waste on the Environment in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019–2020 was approved. The plan includes measures to expand opportunities to manage plastic packaging waste and increase the use of alternative packaging materials. The Green Growth concept introduced in Ka- zakhstan (Green Bridge Partnership Program 2017) sets out current environmental priorities, one of which outlines a goal that, by 2030, 100 per cent of households will be covered by mu- nicipal waste services, 95 per cent of waste will be stored in sanitary and safe conditions and 40 per cent of waste will be recycled (50 per cent by 2050). From 2014 to 2016, federal legislation on waste management in the Russian Federation changed radically in light of a redistribution of waste management powers at the federal, regional and local level, and the introduction of the institution of “regional operators” to deal with solid munic- ipal waste. Federal Law No. 89 “On production and con- sumer waste”, dated June 1998 and amended in July 2016, aims to improve legal regulation in the field of production and consumer waste manage- ment. The new version introduces the concepts of “waste recycling”, “waste treatment”, “solid municipal waste”, “waste neutralization facilities” and so on. The law provides for a ban on disposing waste that includes useful components which can be recycled, the development of regional waste management schemes, mandatory recycling by producers and importers of waste products from the use of these goods in accordance with the re-

cycling standards established by the Government of the Russian Federation or payment of environ- mental charges. Turkmenistan also implemented a law “On waste” in 2015, as well as a number of other laws designed to strengthen environmental protec- tion and natural resource management legisla- tion (Aarhus Centre 2015). To prevent the discharge of untreated sewage into the sea, Azerbaijan is investing heavily, car- rying out large-scale projects, renovating and upgrading major sewage treatment plants and building modern new sewage treatment plants and sewerage systems. Recently built or modern- ized treatment facilities alone have a capacity of up to one million cubic metres of water per day. The main sources of polluted water discharged into Baku Bay have been eliminated. In addition, to prevent the sea from being polluted by small local sources that are not connected to the cen- tral sewer system, modular treatment plants have been installed along the Caspian coast on the Ab- sheron Peninsula. In addition to the bilateral and multilateral agree- ments that Iran has signed with other littoral states, the country has implemented a number of measures to reduce the impact of sewage, in- cluding designing and implementing collection and treatment of municipal and industrial waste- water under contracts for the sale or disposal of sewage from facilities. In 2015, the Russian Federation made changes to a number of regulatory acts on wastewater disposal that applied to certain categories of subscriber (establishment of wastewater dis- posal regulations based on the composition of wastewater and collection of appropriate fees for any excess). The requirements for filing a declaration on wastewater composition and properties by all categories of subscriber were also established. Subscribers for facilities which incur value added tax were assigned a duty to make provisions for the preliminary treatment of wastewater (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation 2015). 7.4.3. Wastewater

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