Uzbekistan is set to transform its solid waste management system based on the Zero Waste principles, according to a presidential decree issued on May 31. The decree aims to improve the ecology and environmental protection in the country by introducing separate collection and disposal of household waste, depending on their types.

The Ministry of Ecology, Environment and Climate Change has been tasked with drafting a program for the integrated management of household waste by September 1.

The decree provides for the transition to the separate collection and disposal of household waste, depending on their types.

The decree also envisages the adoption of a circular economy model, where waste is either recycled or incinerated to the maximum extent possible, without sending it to landfills.

The decree plans to gradually achieve complete recycling and incineration at all existing landfills.

The excess heat or electricity generated from waste incineration will be used to meet the needs of the population and production on the existing energy and communication networks in payment, applying a “green tariff” system.

The government will also provide “green subsidies” from the state budget to increase the efficiency of the new system.

As part of the decree, an experiment will be launched on September 1 for one year in Asaka district, Bukhara and Termez cities, where apartment buildings will be managed by businesses engaged in waste collection, removal and processing.

The decree prohibits the privatization of landfills. The Ministry of Ecology will be responsible for leasing landfill territories to waste processing organizations, cleaning them and selling the freed land plots.