Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The President signed Decree “On measures to improve the waste management system and reduce their negative impact on the environmental situation”.

What incentive measures are provided?

Entrepreneurs who have installed means of photo and video recording of traffic violations will be allowed to record environmental violations. At the same time, they will be paid 20% interest on the funds collected as a fine.

The population will be able to submit applications to the Ministry of Ecology for the installation, at their own expense, of software and hardware equipment for photo and video recording in areas turned into landfills. Persons who submitted applications will also be rewarded with a reward of 20% of the fine.

Employees of the National Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved in environmental patrols will be rewarded with a monetary reward in the amount of 10% of the fine.

The following incentive measures are established for employees of sanitary cleaning enterprises involved in loading, transporting, disposing and sorting waste, as well as employees of improvement departments involved in cleaning work:

monthly distribution of 100 bicycles and other prizes to employees, environmental activists and community environmental stewards;

annual holding of the competition “Defender of the Harmony of Nature” among employees with at least 10 years of work experience, as well as for 100 people from this category of workers - payment in full of the contract amount for the education of their children and grandchildren who entered state universities on a contract basis . At the same time, these students are required to work for at least 3 years in government agencies and organizations.

It is also planned to hold an annual competition “The Cleanest Mahalla” and award awards based on the results of the competition winners - 14 mahallas by:

transfers of 500 million soums to the corresponding mahalla fund for the construction of waste collection sites, installation of waste collection containers and planting trees;

purchase and transfer of one electric vehicle for official use.

What liability measures will be introduced?

Within 3 months it is planned to develop a draft legal regulation providing for:

increasing the fine for offenses related to waste disposal in unidentified places;

introduction of punishment in the form of confiscation of the funds that served as the instrument for committing the offense, or directly the subject of the offense;

establishing the obligation to clean up the site of waste release and removal;

introduction of administrative responsibility for:

illegal collection and removal of waste from waste collection sites and their unguarded (modular) structures;

causing harm to the environment using chemical, biological and bacteriological agents, as well as during the construction, reconstruction, reconstruction of buildings, structures or other objects, construction and major repairs of additional buildings and structures on one’s territory, including intentional damage, grassing and destruction of plantings, forests, trees or other plants;

introduction of liability for environmental pollution as a result of failure to fulfill their tasks by individuals and legal entities responsible for the cleanliness of territories, as well as the introduction of a mechanism for covering costs associated with cleaning these territories and waste removal.

What measures will be taken to reduce debt?

From 1 April, 2024, notarization of transactions related to real estate and vehicles will be carried out only if citizens have no debt for services for the collection and removal of solid household waste.

Acceptance of payments for waste management services and maintenance of subscriber records will be carried out exclusively through the billing system of the Republican Center for Organization of Sanitary Cleaning Works, electronic payment systems or through cash desks for accepting payments of commercial banks.

A temporary restriction is being introduced on the acceptance of payments for electricity from subscribers in the event of non-payment for waste management services (with the exception of territories not connected to the automated electricity metering and control system). The restriction is introduced:

from 1 June 2024 in Tashkent and Nukus, as well as regional centers for debt incurred for waste management services within 6 months;

from 1 November 2024 in all regions of the republic for debt incurred for waste management services within 3 months;

from 1 January 2025 in all regions of the republic for monthly debt for waste management services.

What about sorting?

In 2024-2026, at waste collection sites located on the territory of multi-storey buildings in Tashkent, Angren, Andijan, Bukhara and Termez, as well as the Tashkent region, waste collection will be organized and sorted into the categories “recyclable”, “non-recyclable” and “food”.

Until 1 July 2024, sanitary cleaning enterprises in these territories will provide:

free of charge to citizens with the following types of special garbage bags (with a QR code) for organizing waste collection and sorting into categories:

colorless, transparent - for recyclable municipal solid waste;

black – for non-recyclable municipal solid waste;

brown - for food waste.

A license will be required for the removal of some waste.

From 1 January 2025, the transportation of solid household, construction, liquid household, medical, industrial, hazardous and toxic waste is recognized as a licensed activity. At the same time, equipping special equipment with GPS and special cameras, as well as creating for the public the possibility of online monitoring of the GPS movement of special equipment using special cameras is determined by one of the licensing requirements.

PPP

The Council of Ministers of Karakalpakstan, regional khokimiyats and the city of Tashkent as a state partner are given the right to transfer to entrepreneurs the functions of improvement departments on a PPP basis.

At the same time, in 2024-2025, as an experiment in each region, the functions of at least one district (city) improvement department will be transferred through PPP.

From 1 May 2024, the right to install sanitary and hygienic points in certain places of public areas, social facilities and populated areas is granted. Wherein:

khokimiyats of districts (cities) place in the “E-auksion” the location of the planned installation of points;

the attachment of business entities to the installation sites of sanitary and hygienic points is carried out through electronic auctions;

locations for installation of points are allocated to business entities that become winners in electronic auctions, on the basis of ownership or lease.