Towards circular economy application: MSW reform in Russia

Abstract

The sustainable use of natural resources became a top priority for countries of the world regardless of their level of development. While our current consumption pattern not only requires two planets Earth, the way it is organized makes it more of a burden. Economic growth, being a measure of success for most governments, has a strong link with resource use and, thus, environment degradation, which needs to be decoupled. Unsustainable production and consumption result in growing volumes of waste. The main goal of current research is to analyze whether Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) reform (WR) in Russia includes elements to promote circular practices like recycling, moving the country to another, sustainable level of development with a focus on resource efficiency and (circular) materials value preservation. The research was organized to analyze literature on concepts related to efficient use of resources, their role in a circular economy and waste management and, from the practical side, to analyze literature on waste management in Russia and recent changes in it associated with MSW reform. Analysis of the literature confirmed that the resources of the planet are scarce, and the globally agreed sustainable development path was chosen to decouple economic growth to meet the needs of the growing population to prevent environmental degradation and resource depletion. Circular Economy (CE) could be considered as a concept bringing the economic, social and environmental agenda together, proposing practical approaches to new models of resource use contributing to keeping the value of materials in the economy for longer. Whereas waste management on its own is only a narrow part of the economic cycle where resource management is limited to returning products and materials from the end of life to useful life through proper management and recycling techniques, it is still strongly associated with the CE paradigm. With its WR, Russia is reintroducing the recycling industry as a key element of MSW management which is capable of contributing to the emergence of a CE and its ultimate goal of prolonging material value preservation in the country. Although current WR in Russia is still at the initial stages, and its reality check shows deficiencies of organizational, financial and educational resources, using best practices from abroad together with local experience represent a good starting point. Still, momentum to build a strong foundation for CE in the country starting from MSW recycling industry is lacking clear linkages and understanding at all levels of government.