On January 1, 2019, the so-called "garbage reform" began to operate in Russia. We are talking about Law No. 503, according to the amendments to which most of Russia, except for the two capital cities and the Crimea, had to switch to new territorial waste management schemes. Each constituent entity of the Russian Federation received the right to independently establish standards for the accumulation of garbage. Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol will also take part in the program, but will join it no earlier than 2022. Such innovations had an impact on many things, but above all - on the costs of the population.
Why was the reform started?
The need for reform is long overdue. Formally, it is designed to solve the problem of landfills, which becomes more acute as the amount of waste increases. As conceived by the drafters of the bill, the goal of the reform is the rational disposal of garbage to landfills, the fight against illegal dumps, the transition to rational waste processing, sorting and separate collection of garbage, and the reuse of the maximum amount of materials. Situations when garbage was completely taken out to landfills or sent to incinerators should no longer be repeated.
Old landfills should be reclaimed. This can be done both by the owners themselves and by regional operators responsible for the removal and disposal of waste. But in any case, the owner of the landfill will pay for this.
The reform also plans to increase processing and sorting capacities. But the most controversial point was the new tariffs for waste collection and sorting. Previously, payment for these services was included in the maintenance of the housing. Now they are not only taken out in a separate line, but also have considerably risen in price.
The first results of the reform
More than half a year has passed since the "garbage reform" took effect. So far, all the Russians have received is an increase in tariffs. Officials in the regions are enriched by new opportunities, which often leads to garbage collapses. The old garbage collection scheme stopped working all over the country, and the new one was launched not everywhere and not immediately. Only by the fall, almost all regions gradually figured out who, where and how should take out the waste.
The most discussed result of the innovations was tariffs. Garbage collection for ordinary citizens has risen in price at least twice, and in some cases by three or four times. The main change was that now you have to pay for the person, and not for the meters. It is difficult to argue with this, because one person is equally littering in a one-room studio and in a three-room apartment. But the population is dissatisfied. Why is that?
According to the calculations under the new tariffs, there is 30 kilograms of garbage per person per month, or a kilogram daily. Such figures will not be fair for everyone. In addition, people call the tariffs blatantly overpriced. In different regions of the country, they range from 133 to 182 rubles.
But most of all the questions are caused by receipts. They look strange, the amounts are often doubled, mixed with blank lines. The accrual of the wrong relatives who no longer live and are not registered in the apartment does not stop. That being said, the waste bins do not look more empty than they used to.
After the adoption of the reform and the beginning of its action, a wave of rallies swept across the country. Gradually, they came to naught, but rather from the lack of faith of citizens in the ability to change anything, than it was the real adoption of new rules by the people. The actions and rallies did not bring any noticeable results. Apart from the changed expenses of Russians on the payment of operators, there are no big changes in waste management so far.
