Due to inactivity of Cabinet, number of unauthorized landfills of hazardous waste in Ukraine may increase significantly - MP
Olena Kryvoruchkina, the deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, reported that due to the inconsistency of the actions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Waste Management", Ukraine has not had a single entity licensed to dispose of hazardous waste for more than two weeks, and businesses have not been able to dispose of such type of waste legally, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"The blatant violation by the Cabinet of Ministers of the deadlines for the development of by-laws for the regulatory regulation of hazardous waste management led to the collapse of this market. Today, there is not a single licensed company in Ukraine that has the right to provide such services," the MP said.
Olena Kryvoruchkina noted that such a situation carries a complex of risks: starting from the complication of the sanitary-epidemiological situation due to the need to store organic waste and the increase in the level of fire danger due to the accumulation of spent fuel and lubricant materials to the increase in the number of unauthorized landfills of hazardous waste due to the fact that not all business waste can be stored for a long time.
The MP also emphasized that the situation with the licensing of recycling market participants can be used to monopolize the market. In this regard, the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada decided to send an appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of the Environment, the State Environmental Inspectorate to find out all the details of the situation.
As is known, on July 9, 2022, the Law of Ukraine "On Waste Management" was published, which entered into force in 12 months. It established a requirement for current business entities in the field of hazardous waste management to obtain a license for hazardous waste management business within six months from the date of entry into force of this Law. However, in violation of the specified requirements, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On the approval of licensing conditions for the conduct of economic activity in the management of hazardous waste" No. 1278 was adopted only on December 5, 2023, that is, with a violation of the deadline by more than 4 months. Accordingly, the late adoption of the Resolution led to the fact that the actual term of obtaining a new hazardous waste management license was only 1 month and 4 days. At the same time, the Law of Ukraine "On Licensing of Types of Economic Activity" provides that, in the event of amendments to regulatory legal acts in the field of licensing, the state will provide sufficient time for the implementation of these amendments, but not less than two months.
As previously reported, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for household waste management under special conditions.