STRATEGIC SOLID WASTE

MANAGEMENT PLANNING FOR THE

CITY OF EKATERINBURG, RUSSIA

P. FLETCHER AND A. READ

Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Eaton House, Wallbrook Court,

North Hinksey Lane, Oxford, OX2 0QS, UK

SUMMARY: At the end of the 1990s, waste management services in the city of Ekaterinburg,
Russia were struggling to meet growing demand resulting in an increased risk to the environment
and human health caused by uncollected and inadequately disposed municipal and commercial
waste. As part of its overseas aid programme, the UK Department for International Development
(DFID) funded ERM to develop a comprehensive solid waste management strategy for the City.
The study has been undertaken by a team of international and Russian consultants on behalf of,
and with input from, the Ekaterinburg City Administration. The Strategy includes improvements
to the technical, economic, institutional and social aspects of how waste is managed. In addition
to a municipal waste strategy, a Healthcare Waste Strategy has also been developed to improve
the management of wastes generated in the city’s hospitals and other healthcare establishments.
Two Pilot Projects have been implemented to demonstrate key aspects of the two strategies.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Project

Ekaterinburg is Russia’s 5th largest city with a population of approximately 1.3 million
residents. It is located in the Urals – on the border between Europe and Asia and on the edge of
Siberia. In the former Soviet times Ekaterinburg was a ‘closed city’ (out of bounds to foreigners)
due to its numerous and extensive military equipment factories.
As for nearly all former Soviet cities, most of the population live in multi-storey public
housing blocks. Residents are required to deposit their waste in large open-topped containers that
are situated outside the housing blocks from where the waste is collected by a municipal
company, SVB, on a daily basis. Top-loading waste compaction trucks are used to empty the
containers and the waste is taken to one of two landfill sites that serve the city. Both landfills are
located just outside the city within the surrounding forestry areas.

Proceedings Sardinia 2003, Ninth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium
S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy; 6 - 10 October 2003
 2003 by CISA, Environmental Sanitary Engineering Centre, Italy
 DFID, the UK’s aid agency,
funds a variety of overseas
aid projects on behalf of the
UK Government with the aim
of improving the life of
poorer people in lower-
income and environmentally
developing countries. DFID
identified that there were
serious shortcomings in the
waste management
arrangements in Ekaterinburg
but also recognised that the
City Administration were
very keen to rectify this
situation and were willing to co-operate with international consultants to identify specific actions
and then implement the necessary changes.
Following a brief assessment of the local situation, DFID developed the scope of work for a
project to help the City to improve its solid waste management services and invited tenders from
appropriately qualified consultants. ERM were appointed and commenced work in December
1999.

1.2 Objectives of the Project

The overall aims of the project were identified by DFID as follows:

• Improved Solid Waste Management services for the City;
• More cost-effective delivery of waste management services; and
• Development of a model which can be replicated by other Russian cities – to maximise the
benefits of the money being spent in Ekaterinburg.
In order to achieve these overall aims, a number of specific project Objectives were specified as
follows:
• develop an integrated Strategy for solid waste management, including collection, transport,
treatment and disposal, to set out the vision of how municipal solid wastes should be managed
over the next 15 years;
• determine and recommend the most appropriate role of the Private Sector in the provision of
SWM services;
• review the options for Cost Recovery Charging and recommend the most appropriate
arrangement for the city;
• undertake two Pilot Projects to demonstrate the improved waste management services
recommended in the SWM Strategy;
• carry out training to build the technical and managerial capacity of the local public sector
authorities involved in the management and regulation of SWM; and
• dissemination of the project findings to enable the benefits from the project findings to be
presented to other cities within the region and throughout the Russian Federation.
1.3 Study Methodology

Although the project has been undertaken primarily by a team of experienced international
consultants, we also involved a number of UK practitioners - staff from local authorities and
private waste management companies with practical, hands on, experience of tackling the sort of
problems being faced in Ekaterinburg. Throughout the study we have also employed several
local consultants, with different specialisations, and worked closely with a number of
counterparts from different departments within the City Administration to ensure that we took
full account of the local conditions. At each stage of the study we have consulted with the
various local stakeholder groups and taken on board the feedback received. The overall aim has
been to develop a ‘Russian solution’ for the ‘Russian situation’.
The project has been undertaken in a number of stages as follows:
1. Review of the existing situation – a detailed review of all the factors impacting the existing
situation was carried out
2. A conceptual or Outline Strategy was developed based on the key issues identified in the
review of the current situation
3. Based on feedback from local stakeholders the scope of the strategy was adjusted and a
detailed strategy drafted.
4. In drafting the detail of the strategy, two pilot projects were developed to test key elements of
the strategy. These were selected by a committee of local stakeholders based on agreed
selection criteria.
5. Based on the initial results of the pilot projects and the final comments from local
stakeholders, the strategy will be finalised.

2. REVIEW OF EXISTING SITUATION

The first stage in the project was a detailed review of the existing situation with respect to SWM
in the city involving inspection of the waste management infrastructure and facilities and
extensive discussions with the whole range of stakeholders involved in waste management. The
review covered the following aspects:
• Institutional arrangements – roles and responsibilities of the different organisations involved
in different aspects of SWM in the city
• Technical standards being achieved with respect to:
· Waste collection
· Transport
· Disposal
• Waste recovery and recycling
• Cost recovery and investment
From this review, some of the key issues that would need to be addressed by the Strategy were
identified as follows:
Institutional Arrangements
• Need for a more comprehensive SWM Strategy. Prior to the project, the City did not have a
comprehensive strategy for managing its wastes although it did have a Scheme of Sanitary
Cleansing which covered some aspects of solid waste management.
• Ill defined roles of different stakeholders. There are several different layers of local
government and the roles of each of these with respect to waste management were not clear.
As a result there was an overlap of responsibilities in some areas and gaps in other areas.
• Poor enforcement of legislation. A general lack of staff and resources restricts the
enforcement capability of the regulatory authorities.
• Poor level of public awareness regarding SWM issues. As in most countries, there is a very
variable level of awareness of environmental issues but, in general, solid waste awareness of
the population was relatively low.
Waste Collection
• Coverage of waste collection service. Although most residents living in public housing blocks
receive a waste collection service this does not extend to the older private housing areas.
• Inadequate capacity of containers. A lack of capacity of the communal containers used for
waste collection leads to waste being burned at the container sites by the municipal staff hired
to keep the public housing areas clean.
• Age and condition of waste collection vehicles. A lack of financial resources meant that the
fleet of vehicles used for collecting waste was extremely old and in poor condition resulting in
numerous breakdowns and high maintenance costs.
• Illegal use of municipal waste container sites by commercial waste generators. Inadequate
enforcement meant that unauthorised deposit of commercial waste into containers designated
for municipal waste was widespread – resulting in extra costs of municipal waste collection
and disposal and poor fee recovery from commercial waste producers.
Waste Disposal
The existing standard of design and operation of the two landfills used by the city was relatively
poor. Identified deficiencies included:
• Minimal engineering – no lining or other containment measures to reduce pollution
• Lack of cover material – resulting in windblown litter and other problems
• Excessively steep slopes – primarily due to a lack of space
• Inadequate equipment – to achieve proper control
• Inadequate funding – to address the above issues
• Lack of landfill capacity – additional capacity is desperately required.
Materials Recovery and Recycling
There is a well-established and market-driven materials recovery/recycling system in
Ekaterinburg but only a limited range of materials is collected (primarily paper and textiles) and
there are some inappropriate (hazardous) practices. In particular, some of the materials are
collected by scavengers on the landfill sites and some medical wastes are recovered (plastic
syringes).Medical waste management

In general we found that there was a high level of awareness amongst hospital staff about the
issues associated with medical (healthcare) waste management. However, it was observed that
some high risk wastes were being disposed into containers used for general municipal wastes
and, as noted above, there was inappropriate recycling of syringes.
Cost Recovery
The system being used to recover the costs of providing the waste management service was
found to be overly prescriptive and based on a restrictive tariff calculation procedure which
relies on inappropriate ‘norms’ dating back to the Soviet system of allocating costs. Particular
problems identified as contributing to a very low level of cost recovery included the following:
• Very low provision for depreciation of plant and equipment;
• Recovery only of the operating costs for landfill (no allowance for capital, site development
of site restoration costs);
• Complex subsidy system based on residents occupation or status rather than ability to pay;
• Poor level of payment by the City Administration;
• High levels of inflation not adequately allowed for in the charging system; and
• A system of charging based on costs incurred such that there was no incentive to reduce
costs or be more efficient.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATEGY

3.1 Process

As discussed above, the SWM Strategy was developed in stages with extensive consultations
with different groups of stakeholders at the different stages. The overall scheme of Strategy
development, including outputs and stakeholders consulted is summarised below (Table 1).

Table 1. Development of the Waste Strategy.

Stage Output Stakeholders consulted
Review of Current Identification of Key Issues • Different departments within the City and
Situation Oblast (regional government)
Administrations
• Municipal Housing Enterprises
• SWM Service Provider (different levels of
staff)
• Private sector companies involved in waste
management
• NGOs

Drafting of Conceptual Outline Strategy • Different departments within the City and
Strategy Oblast Administrations with responsibility
for waste management
• Different sectors of the general public were
surveyed

Drafting of Detailed Draft Strategy / proposals for Pilot • Specialist waste management staff within
Strategy / Development Projects different departments of the City and Oblast
of Pilot Projects Administrations
• Selected SWM stakeholders within the City
• SWM specialists from other Russian cities
• DFID (for approval of pilot projects)

Implementation of Pilot Pilot Projects • Specific specialist waste management staff

Projects within relevant departments of the City and
Oblast Administrations (including Health
Departments)

Finalisation of Strategy Final Strategy • Key departments within the City

(ongoing at present) Administration

The overall Strategy was developed around 8 inter-connected components as illustrated in

Figure 1.

Institutional and Organisational

Strengthening

Waste Collection and Waste Recycling and Waste Treatment and

Transportation Recovery Disposal

Cost Recovery Private Sector Public Awareness Health Care Waste

Participation and Education

Figure 1. Strategy Components.

During the development of the waste management Strategy it became apparent that the nature
and scale of the issues associated with Healthcare waste were such that it merited its own
Strategy. The Healthcare waste component has therefore been separated out from the MSW
Strategy and a ‘stand-alone’ Healthcare Waste Strategy has been developed for the city.
3.2 Key Points of the Strategies
A comprehensive, integrated strategy for the management of solid wastes generated by the City
has been developed. This includes a series of objectives for improving the solid waste
management service, a strategy for meeting each objective and a list of detailed Targets and
Actions for the implementation of the Strategy.
It is not possible within the confines of this paper to detail all the aspects of the Strategy but
key points are discussed briefly below.
Waste Collection
Waste collection is to be extended to the single-dwelling private housing areas so that, when
complete, all residents of the city will receive a service. In order to service the single dwelling
houses a different system from the communal containers used for the large housing blocks will
be required. At the moment it is considered that (relatively) small rear loading compaction
vehicles will be the most appropriate option because they will be able to access the quite narrow
streets.
To overcome the problem of insufficient capacity (resulting in waste being burned) at the
container sites, the ‘norms’ of waste generation will be reviewed and additional containers and
vehicles will be provided as necessary.
Waste Disposal
One of the main aims will be to increase the level of cost recovery for waste disposal in order to
provide the financial resources to improve the technical standards.
In the short term, the landfill standards will be gradually updated with the aim, initially, of
meeting the Russian standards and then, in the medium term, to achieve the standards applied in
western Europe.
In the longer term, the feasibility of treatment technologies will be reviewed and integrated
systems will be developed. In the short to medium term, however, it is not considered that
‘higher technology’ treatment options, such as incineration, will be financially viable.
Waste Recycling
It is considered essential to build on the existing system which, currently, is proving to be
economically viable. In the short-term, therefore, it is proposed to extend the existing system to
include a greater range of materials and to extend its geographical coverage to all parts of the
city.
In the medium term it will be necessary to prepare for potential future changes to the socio-
economic situation when there may not be enough poorer members of society, who are prepared
to collect recyclables from industry and deliver them to commercial recycling companies, to
make the existing arrangements viable. At that stage, the City Administration may need to
provide subsidies, or introduce other fiscal measures, to maintain the level of materials recovery
and recycling.Private Sector Participation

In order to encourage the maximum financial efficiency, competition will be introduced for
provision of SWM services. Given the current situation, in which the public sector service
provider has a virtual monopoly and the client authorities do not have experience of managing
contracts, it will be necessary to do this in stages with careful planning and preparation. The
different stages and tasks include the following:
• Development and strengthening of the existing service provider.
• Building the capacity of the regulatory and client authorities to enable proper contracts and
monitoring.
• Development of a framework for contracting of SWM services – including a contract based
system of tariffs
• Adoption of Full Cost accounting and Full Cost recovery
• Gradual introduction of contracts for waste collection in different parts of the City
Medical Waste Management
As indicated above, a separate strategy has been developed for the management of medical
(healthcare) wastes. The key points of this strategy are as follows:
• Improved In-hospital Procedures comprising:
• Segregation of different waste types
• Improved packaging and labelling
• Improved storage
• Improved waste collection involving use of dedicated vehicles and the introduction of a
tracking system similar to that used for industrial hazardous wastes
• Improved disposal including the introduction of more sophisticated treatment systems to
render the wastes less harmful (such as high temperature incineration)
• Improved funding and strengthened legislation and enforcement

4. PILOT PROJECTS

As part of the overall project, DFID has provided a capital grant for the initiation of two pilot
projects to demonstrate key aspects of the two Strategies. This will allow the Strategies to be
refined based on the initial findings of pilot projects and will provide a visible early impact to
demonstrate the benefits of the strategy. The two pilot projects were selected by a committee of
local and international consultants and local counterparts using a checklist of selection criteria
approved by DFID.

4.1 Waste Collection from Private Houses

Although virtually all residents living in public sector, multi-storey, housing blocks currently
receive a waste collection service from the municipal services supplier (SVB), most of the
residents who live in older, single storey, private houses (approximately 8% of the population)
were not receiving a collection service. As a result, there was extensive dumping of municipal
waste in the forest areas surrounding the settlements of private housing because the residents had
no, easy, alternative for disposing of their waste.
The capital grant from DFID was used to purchase a waste collection vehicle specifically to
serve the private housing areas. Unlike the vehicles used to serve the public housing blocks,
which are top-loading compaction vehicles designed to empty communal containers, a small rear
loading compaction vehicle was selected so that it could operate in the narrow and un-paved
streets that typify the poorer private hosing areas.
To date the collection of waste is being undertaken from two areas of private housing in
different parts of the city on a weekly basis. The collection truck has a specific route and
designated timetable for stopping at set locations around the two areas. Residents bring their
waste out to the vehicle.

4.2 Medical Waste Management

In order to address the identified problems of higher risk wastes being inappropriately managed,
the Medical Waste Strategy seeks to introduce a system of segregation and separate, dedicated,
packaging, storage, transport and disposal of these wastes.
To help in the introduction of the revised management arrangements, a capital grant from
DFID was used to purchase a, pilot-scale, dedicated high-temperature clinical waste incinerator.
This first incinerator will be able to treat approximately one third of the higher risk medical
waste generated in Ekaterinburg and will be used for treating waste collected during the pilot
study. The pilot study will be used to test and refine the arrangements before rolling them out to
the rest of the city. The City Administration will purchase a dedicated vehicle to service the pilot
hospitals and will purchase the single-use containers required for the trial.
To date construction of the incinerator is almost complete and we are awaiting final approval
from the regulatory authorities for introduction of the new arrangements.

5. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY

The draft Strategy has been subject to wide consultation and will be finalised later this year
following which it will be formally adopted by the City Administration and implemented
accordingly.
Some recommendations of the Strategy have already been implemented and, since the
commencement of the project, the tariffs charged to residents have been increased to a more
realistic level. This has enabled additional waste collection vehicles to be purchased by the
existing service provider.
As part of the project, a Model Contract has been developed to be used in the future
contracting out of waste collection services and the City Administration is considering the most
appropriate timetable for the introduction of commercial waste collection. Initial contracts are
expected within the next 3 – 5 years.
To date, two information exchange workshops have been held to present details of the project
and to share experiences of upgrading SWM services with other Russian cities. These workshops
were attended by a total of over 100 delegates from 36 cities. A final ‘dissemination’ workshop
will be held later this year to present the final results of the project and allow other cities to
observe the pilot projects which, as indicated above, are well advanced.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Authors wish to thank the UK Department of International Development (DFID) for funding
this project and the work described herein and also the numerous UK and Russian consultants
who have worked with us in developing the waste management strategies for the city of
Ekaterinburg.

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