Kazakhstan Recycles 24% of Waste It Produces

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Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Zhomart Aliyev said at the VIII Eurasian Business Forum “Green Energy & Waste Recycling” in Astana on October 3 that in 2023, 4.1 million tons of municipal waste were produced across Kazakhstan, and only 24% of that volume was recycled.

According to Aliyev, unauthorized landfills remain a big problem. A total of 4,868 such landfills have been identified, and only 32% of them have been recycled.

As of 2023, only 624 out of Kazakhstan’s 3,016 solid waste landfills met all the environmental requirements.

The government has approved 94 investment projects to construct waste processing plants in Kazakhstan, which is expected to increase the country’s municipal waste processing from 1 million to 2.2 million tons annually.

The government has also approved a resolution on preferential financing for the construction of waste sorting and recycling plants and a plan to modernize existing solid waste landfills.

The government has also drafted a Concept for the Development of Environmental Culture for 2024-2029, which aims to raise public awareness of proper waste management.

Sergey Kwan

Sergey Kwan

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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