Kazakhstan accumulated more than 16 billion tonnes of waste by the beginning of this year. Radioactive waste, man-made mineral formations and overburden are not included in this volume. According to the Informative and Analytical Center of Environment Protection, the State Cadastre recorded 13.5 billion tonnes of non-hazardous and 2.8 tonnes of hazardous waste. The real picture may be different given the existing unauthorized landfills.
“In 2020, more than 8,000 unauthorized landfills were found throughout the country, and 40 percent of them are located in Akmola, Karagandy and East Kazakhstan regions. This is a progressing problem that we know about not only thanks to raids of local environmental departments and the public, but also through advanced IT technologies,” said Zhanat Samat, Director General, Informative and Analytical Center of Environment Protection at Kazakh Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources.
Such IT technologies, namely the digital control system for disposal of construction waste, are actively being used in the capital. An area of over 800 square kilometers has been digitized in Nur-Sultan to date. The digital map contains diagrams of networks, roads, topography, aerography, green spaces and landfills. It helps control and monitor illegal dumps.
“With the introduction of a new Environmental Code, our waste classifier will cover all types of waste to date. Also, with the use of new modern IT solutions and with the help of satellite monitoring, we think that it will be possible to solve this problem at a higher level,” opined Zhanat Samat.
According to Zhanat Samat, the solution of the waste problem cannot be postponed. It is necessary to implement such digital control system for garbage disposal in all major cities of the country.
Translation by Saniya Sakenova
Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova
Web-editor: Admin
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