Armenia launches €14.8 million waste management reform: first sanitary landfill site put into operation
YEREVAN, July 14. /ARKA/. Armenia has launched its first sanitary landfill, marking the start of a systemic reform in the field of waste management, said Sergey Hambartsumyan, director of the inter-municipal organization “Solid Waste Management of Kotayk and Gegharkunik.”
Earlier, the Armenian government reported that the Solid Waste Management Program worth €14.8 million, was being implemented in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“Under the loan agreement signed in 2016, the first sanitary landfill site, which complies with EBRD and EU norms and standards, has already become a reality,” Hambartsumyan said at a press conference on Monday.
According to him, the work, which began in the enlarged community of Hrazdan, will also be carried out in other communities: over the next few months it is planned to place about 7,000 containers for mixed waste in two regions.
Hambarzumyan noted that dozens of unregulated landfills in these two regions will be closed and will no longer be used. He explained that the sanitary landfill will serve two regions, which will have a positive environmental impact on the Sevan Lake basin, as well as on the development of tourism.
He also stated that with the introduction of this new model in rural settlements, garbage collection will be carried out on a schedule—waste will be transported to the sanitary landfill.
“A sanitary landfill was built in Hrazdan, a waste transfer station was built in the administrative territory of the Akunk community in the Kotayk region, and another station was built in the Martuni community in the Gegharkunik region,” Hambarzumyan said.
As part of the program, waste collection schemes for all settlements in the two provinces have been developed in accordance with EU standards, and optimal waste collection routes have been drawn up.
The necessary machinery and equipment have been purchased based on these schemes.
The Kotayk and Gegharkunik Regions Solid Waste Management LLC was established and registered by the communities of the two regions to provide waste collection services and operate landfills and transfer stations.-0-
