The polygon cannot bear two people – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

Two “garbage” companies at once are fighting for waste from the Novospassky district of the Ulyanovsk region. The head of the district, Alexander Gorbunov, officially asked local organizations – from courts to kindergartens – to support one of the two projects. The competing company considers this an abuse of power and is preparing an appeal to the prosecutor’s office. At the same time, the regional government is dissatisfied with both rivals, and experts state that there may not be enough waste in the region even for one company.

At the disposal of “Kommersant” was a letter from the head of the administration of the Novospassky district of the Ulyanovsk region Alexander Gorbunov, which on October 10 was sent to the heads of enterprises, organizations and institutions of the district. It is reported that two landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) are planned to start working in the district at once. The first is from the Simbirsk environmental company (SimbEK, founders from Nizhny Novgorod, the landfill was built but not put into operation). The second one is planned to be built by OOO Interregional Ecological Company (MEK from Samara; a regional operator already operating in the area). “The activities of the two landfills will have a negative impact on the life and health of citizens,” Mr. Gorbunov believes. He invites addressees to “initiate appeals on the issue of concern in the construction of these facilities.” The letter clarifies that appeals “should be sent from residents of the district in accordance with the attached distribution” to the governor, legislative assembly, ministers of housing and communal services and natural resources, the environmental prosecutor’s office, the Public Chamber of the region, Rosprirodnadzor, Rospotrebnadzor and the United Russia regional department. At the same time, the texts “should be individual”, with the signatures of the residents attached.

Tables are attached to the letter – who and where should write. Among the possible senders are not only local companies, municipal institutions, schools and kindergartens, but also district departments of federal departments (IFTS, MO Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc.), as well as courts.

The head of the administration Alexander Gorbunov himself explained to Kommersant that he had received “many requests from the population about” garbage “companies.” “In order to streamline this,” he “suggested the leaders to meet with the teams” – so that they “if there is such concern, contact higher organizations, since this is not the competence of the district administration.” At the same time, Mr. Gorbunov claims that “everyone was excited” by the project of the SimbEK company.

She allegedly “plans to set high tariffs” and “probably intends to import garbage from neighboring regions.”

He added that “the landfill is located close to the regional center,” it “provides for small sorting volumes and does not plan to recycle.” “I agree with the population and have a negative attitude towards this landfill. I did not see the IEC project, but they promised that they would build a processing complex,” added Mr. Gorbunov. A year ago, on the contrary, supported Simbek company.

The fifth MSW management zone, which includes six districts of the region, including the Novospassky district, is the most problematic in the region. Today, waste in this zone is transported to the Kuzovatovsky landfill, which was claimed to be full back in 2021. Initially, the fifth zone was not planned in the territorial scheme. But SimbEK, which planned to build a landfill there under an investment agreement with the regional government back in 2015, said that business rights had been violated. The company reached the Supreme Court, achieved changes in the territorial scheme, but refused to become a regional operator.

SimbEK General Director Tatyana Bolshukhina believes that the letter of the head of the district was written in the interests of the IEC. “And this is Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of official powers.— “b”). I have already sent an application to the prosecutor’s office on this matter,” said Ms. Bolshukhina. She noted that her landfill “has already been built, it is being accepted, it is planned to start work in January.” The Director General emphasized that “the claims about low sorting volumes and the absence of a recycling project are false information spread by government officials” and that “the tariff is set by the Price and Tariff Regulatory Agency.”

IEC co-founder Andrei Ivanov expressed doubts about the possibility of concluding an agreement with SimbEC. He, like the head of the district, said about the high tariffs of SimbEK and the low possible volumes of MSW sorting. According to him, the IEC is building “not just a test site, but an ecotechnopark according to standard solutions in Russia.” Mr. Ivanov acknowledged that so far only a land plot has been allocated, but noted that “an agreement has already been signed with Uralvagonzavod on the purchase of equipment and the provision of investments of about 1 billion rubles.”

The Minister of Housing and Public Utilities and Construction of the Ulyanovsk Region, Alexander Cherepan, told Kommersant that “Bolshukhina has been waging war for six years, while her investment program was rejected at the last investment committee due to the high declared tariffs.”

However, he “and the IEC also has huge claims – it can’t cope, but there is no one to replace it.” “Everyone is lying, and everyone has their own interests there,” the minister stated.

The ex-head of the regional department of Rosprirodnadzor, expert of the regional headquarters of the ONF, Alexander Kaplin, considers the situation with the construction of two landfills at once in the fifth zone “ridiculous and strange”, “where there is not enough MSW even for one landfill to make its work profitable.” “Neither Bolshukhina nor the IEC will be able to return the invested funds,” the expert is sure. “Perhaps, in order to ensure profitability, Bolshukhina intends to participate in the acceptance of industrial waste from the Syzran hub (Samara region.— “b”). There will definitely be a war of interests, they will push, involving control and supervision and law enforcement agencies, authorities and the public. And today’s situation is evidence of the beginning of the “garbage war”.

Sergey Titov, Ulyanovsk