On timeliness of constructing shop for hazardous wastes

In Ukraine so far, year after year, the demand for fluorescent energy-saving bulbs is steadily growing. Few come to think, though, that discarded bulbs are not to be buried in landfills so as to prevent tremendous environmental disaster. Mercury-containing bulbs are extremely hazardous wastes. Once thrown away into landfill unseparated from municipal garbage, they usually break apart and thus release poisonous chemicals into air, soil, and water. Mercury-containing wastes are recycled by specialized companies and in safe conditions, since these bulbs are highly toxic. 

An enormous number of broken fluorescent bulbs are buried in Ukrainian waste dumps, dangerous toxins evaporate and dissolve, get through air streams into the ground and water nearby. They even may reach human body through food and cause severe poisoning.

NGO “Ekoltava” has held an online discussion dealing with hazardous wastes management within Poltavs’ka region and their proper recycling. Four speakers took the floor, they represented companies that directly operate in the field of recycling this very kind of wastes. 

Viktoriya Kireyeva – strategical development CEO, Polekozakhyst, Ltd. The company functions since 2016, it takes wastes collected by Ecobuses, both city and regional.

Yadchyshyn Oleh – section foremaster, “Bodnarivka” state enterprise. This plant has become the pioneer in complete recycling of mercury-containing wastes. Located in village Murovane near Lviv.

Kyryl Kosourov – Head, association of enterprises that deal with hazardous wastes.

Maksym Bobruyenko – expert in proper and transparent hazardous wastes management, Ecological Investments.

The speakers touched the current situation on wastes market. Generally, discarded bulbs are collected and stored in specialized metal containers with cases and PET-bags for splinters. Filled up containers are leakproof-sealed and stored in single-purpose premises with limited access. But there remains a rub: what to do with collected mercury? 

“It is a pity to confess that there is currently no respective trade market in our country. No one’s interested in using even pure mercury in manufacturing”– says Maksym Bobruyenko. 

The amount of mercury extracted from one bulb is quite small, yet one million bulbs were recycled three years ago in Ukraine, 800 thousand two years ago, and around 600 thousand last year. 

“Yes, we do have depositories with leakproof containers stored, but we gradually run short of them. These containers were designed in Soviet Union and had certain robustness. So the crucial problem is – a really sharp one! – where to find new ones”– says Kyryl Kosourov, Head, association of enterprises that deal with hazardous wastes.  

“As for me, it is better to stockpile mercury in single-purpose containers rather than have it dispersed in landfills all over Ukraine. We hope that in the future we find the solution for this issue” – a comment from Oleh Yadchyshyn, section foremaster, “Bodnarivka” state enterprise. The plant recycles bulbs so that pure mercury is extracted and stored in separate containers.

The construction of a similar shop in Poltavs’ka region is planned, though it exploits other technology of recycling. The bottle is filled with luminiferous cement solution and tightly closed. Then it is put into a bigger container, the space between is filled with solution of cement, lime, sand, and water. This container also gets sealed and marked. After 28 days, when solutions congeal, the vessel with hazardous wastes, class 4, is taken to landfill. This information has worried the publicity much. Questions have arisen on the issues of environmental safety and location of the shop. 

“The legislation says that once an enterprise strives to start an activity that requires respective environmental permits, it must be subjected to assessment of environmental impact. I mean it depends on the Ministry. In case you meet demands, all of them, you get the positive resolution” – says strategical development CEO, Polekozakhyst, Ltd., Viktoriya Kireyeva. It is her company that plans to construct a shop in Machukhy. 

Recycling and proper management of hazardous wastes is a keen issue of public discussions. Generally, people are pro-oriented and support these beginnings, but when it comes to construction, objections emerge. 

“The thing demands reasonable approach. There must be supervision, so that the report is reality, not mere paper. But should we reject such initiatives because of people living nearby, we shall never build facilities of a kind altogether” – accounts Maksym Bobruyenko, expert in proper and transparent hazardous wastes management.

The proposal of constructing the shop in Poltavs’ka region came from Polekozakhyst, Ltd. This company is to implement it as well as guarantee the manufacturing and environmental security.

So far we await for the assessment of environmental impact and outcomes of public hearings. NGO “Ekoltava” will inform the readers on any updates on this account. 

Now then, if publicity realizes the top priority of proper management of hazardous wastes, and gets free overview on how related plants and enterprises operate, there will be less reasons to be worried. And may we always remember that we bear responsibility for all the wastes we generate.

Video record of mentioned event is available on channel “Ekoltava” on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igS9o3Bo2uM