Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

ly hazardous area to becoming a recreational area in a short period of time. During the first phase of the project, 2.8 million m 3 of highly contaminated sediment were treated. Protective measures that removed all household and construction waste from the lake and its shores were implemented (National Contribution). Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest produc- ers of hazardous waste. Almost 100 per cent of the waste generated in the country is hazardous (Nu- gumanova et al. 2017). Some parts of the Caspian shore still suffer from industrial pollution accumu- lated as a result of oil and gas extraction. The con- sequences of such pollution are dispersed across more than 350,000 thousand ha of Mangystau Re- gion, and the situation in Atyrau Region is similar (Republic of Kazakhstan 2014–2016). There are about 28 landfill sites for municipal sol- id waste in the districts bordering the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan, only eight of which have licences or operational permits. About 87 per cent of the population here has access to appropriate services. For example, as of 1 January 2018, 89.9 per cent of people in Mangystau Region were living in set- tlements with landfill sites that met environmen- tal requirements (Republic of Kazakhstan 2014– 2016). The Solid Waste Management Programme was launched in Atyrau District in 2014 (Republic of Kazakhstan 2014–2016), with a focus on man- aging landfill sites and waste-to-energy projects. The programme aims to build 10 new landfill sites. Some work on recycling household waste has been done in Mangystau Region. For instance, an exper- imental sorting line with a capacity of 50,000 tons of domestic waste – almost a third of the total waste generated – was launched in Aktau in 2018. To sup- port these efforts, the municipality of Aktau has in- stalled special collection containers, including con- tainers for mercury-contaminated waste. The first solid domestic waste processing plant inMangystau Region began operations in 2014. In 2017, 13.8 per cent of municipal solid waste was sorted and dis- posed of in Mangystau Region, and efforts to im- prove the waste management programme are on- going (Republic of Kazakhstan 2014–2016). Over the past few years, the Government of Ka- zakhstan and the private sector have agreed on

the need to rehabilitate land affected by indus- trial pollution from oil and gas production, and practical steps have been undertaken to improve the situation in some areas. As a result, about 20 ha of contaminated land in Atyrau have been re- stored using biological methods. The goal of this work is to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment, and to comply with the “zero-discharge” policy. Regional waste management (including munic- ipal solid waste management) plans currently offer the most comprehensive source of informa- tion on waste management in the Caspian region of the Russian Federation. These plans were de- veloped and approved by the executive authori- ties in the Russian Federation regions bordering the Caspian Sea in 2016, in accordance with the Resolution issued by the Government of the Rus- sian Federation on 16 March 2016: “On approval of requirements for the composition and content of regional waste management, including mu- nicipal solid waste management, plans” (Russian Federation 2016). The Caspian region of the Russian Federation generates 1.7 million tons of industrial and mu- nicipal waste annually, including waste from the metallurgical, oil and gas, chemical, pharmaceu- tical, construction, textile, processing and other industries. This waste includes 30.2 tons of class 1 hazardous waste; 7,800 tons of class 2 hazard- ous waste; 39,900 tons of class 3 hazardous waste; 1.3 million tons of class 4 hazardous waste; and 320,200 tons of class 5 hazardous waste 6 (Hazard Classes, GOST 12.1.007-76, 1976). The volume of municipal solid waste, which makes up the major- ity of production and consumer waste, produced in the Caspian region of the Russian Federation totals 1.3 million tons per year, of which 465,100 tons (33.8 per cent) is produced in coastal munic- ipalities, with urban settlements accounting for 283,100 tons and rural areas for 182,000 tons. The Republic of Dagestan produces the most waste – 1,068,300 tons (including 784,500 tons of municipal solid waste) – followed by As- trakhan Oblast with 523,000 tons (including 490,900 tons of municipal solid waste), and the Republic of Kalmykia with 107,300 tons (in- cluding 102,300 tons of municipal solid waste).

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