A single body for waste management to be set up in Ukraine

The reform of the waste management sector provides for the establishment of a single executive body, which will regulate the field of waste management and create the proper infrastructure for handling those. This was stated by Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ostap Semerak during a meeting of the Coordinating Council on the implementation of the National Waste Management Strategy till 2030.

The establishment of such a body is stipulated for by the Waste Management Strategy approved by the Government.

According to Ostap Semerak, in early 2019 the Cabinet of Ministers should consider a National Plan for its implementation.

"We have drafted a National Waste Management Plan. It has undergone the approval with other executive authorities. We expect the Government to consider and support it in the first months of the new year. This document provides for a series of complex measures. In particular, the setting up of a single body responsible for waste management issues", said Ostap Semerak.

Meanwhile, he stressed that particular sectoral legislation should be adopted to ensure its establishment, enabling the introduction of a new waste management model in Ukraine, which would envisage minimization of waste and recycling it.

"Approving the National Waste Management Plan and adopting, first of all, the framework law" On Waste Management" will allow Ukraine to get sectoral bills for each waste group. After that, we can talk about the creation of a single executive body responsible for the management, modernization and development of waste management domain", summed up Ostap Semerak.

The Minister noted that at this stage the framework law "On Waste Management" is undergoing the final stages of approval and by February it should be submitted to the Ministry of Justice for legal expert expertise, which will allow it to be submitted for consideration and approval by the Cabinet of Ministers.

"This law is a framework one. It has already been discussed. It is vital that this document is the result of the joint work of the Government and public organizations, representatives of business associations and our European partners. Such a circle of stakeholders was involved in the preparation of the bill", emphasized Ostap Semerak.

It should be noted that in 2017 the Government approved the National Waste Management Strategy - the first strategic document of the state level, which defines the policy of managing all types of waste by 2030. At the same time, a decision was made to establish a Coordinating Council at the level of the Government on the implementation of the National Waste Management Strategy, chaired by Vice Prime Minister/ Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services Hennadii Zubko.