Press Release, 5.12.2018

Nikolai Rybakov, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, raised the problem of transportation of Moscow garbage to the Arkhangelsk Region. Rybakov participated in the State Duma meeting on 5 December, as non-parliamentary parties are invited to participate in the parliament’s meetings once a year. Rybakov directly addressed this question to the Minister of Natural Resources Dmitry Kobylkin, who spoke in the Duma during the “government hour”.

“How was it possible to propose to take garbage from Moscow to the Arkhangelsk region not even for processing, but just for storing it there? People live there too!” Rybakov addressed the minister. “It turns out that the country is divided into people of the first category, who live in Moscow, and all the rest – [living] beyond Moscow. Money is taken from there [the regions], and garbage is sent there.”

According to the Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, “There is no real garbage reform in our country, the state does not carry it out.” “The reform has been replaced by monopolism, gigantic corruption and support for outdated technologies,” Rybakov stressed in his speech.

The Deputy Chairman of Yabloko also announced a set of measures that would solve the garbage problem. It is necessary to completely stop the burning of waste, because it increases the risk of cancer among the population. “All incinerated waste can be disposed of or recycled in a safe way,” Rybakov said.

The wastes containing secondary resources should not be buried. It is necessary, not in words, but in practice to transfer to the separate collection and recycling of waste. Recycling of garbage creates 15 times more jobs than waste incineration plants, Rybakov added.

We are convinced in Yabloko that we should abandon monopolism in the field of waste disposal. Operators established in the regions can work only as monopolists. According to Rybakov, the state should not deal with garbage collection; instead, it should create conditions for the development of private business and private initiative.

Support of enterprises engaged in recycling represents another measure. Such enterprises should get benefits and subsidies.

“All these decisions are obvious, but officials and the mafia, associated with the garbage business, which does not want to yield its revenues, work against them,” Rybakov noted.

During the government hour in the State Duma, the Minister of Natural Resources Dmitry Kobylkin presented information on the implementation of perspective directions of the state policy in the field of environmental development of the Russian Federation, as well as prospects for ensuring environmentally safe waste management. Representatives of political parties represented in regional parliaments were invited to the meeting. Yabloko was given the opportunity to speak from the rostrum of the State Duma with a three-minute speech.

Past weekend rallies against the export of Moscow garbage to the Arkhangelsk region were held in many cities of the region.The Yabloko party was among the organisers of these actions.

NIKOLAI RYBAKOV is Deputy Chair and head of the Electoral Headquarters of the Yabloko party