Is there a future for landfill in Makukhivka

On October 28, 2021 it was planned to arrange a meeting and block the road near notorious landfill of Makukhivka that should be renamed to landfill of Poltava, since almost all wastes are delivered from Poltava.

The reason for this action was that town authorities have ignored the memorandum signed on June 5, 2021. Not a single listed promise was performed, the landfill was just partly heaped round, and meetings with the head of town council on the results of memorandum did not take place altogether.

Why haven’t anyone come to meeting?

As the link https://poltava.to/news/63226/ puts, regional and town statesmen​​have persuaded citizens of Makukhivs’ka hromada not to block the road. Instead, they propose their solution that later will be completed by experts from regional administration. An updated document stipulates construction of waste-processing plant. 

It is curious, what the communication will look like this time? Is it not just another lame measure taken merely not to perform given promises?

Will everything really remains just the same?

«Operation life of landfill in Makukhivka is not set, since it has emerged spontaneously in 1953 without any proper project that indicates clear expiration date.» — excerpt from respond by KATP-1628, the enterprise that removes municipal wastes from Poltava and takes it to landfill in Makukhivka.

At the moment, landfill square is 17,34 hectares. Monthly amount of discarded wastes is around 12 thousand tons, thus annual amount is roughly 144 thousand tons. A disturbing question arises: «Where to dump trash otherwise?».

«Should we plainly close the landfill in Makukhivka up, then we’ll repeat the Lviv scenario. Wastes will be discarded to the nearest dumps, probably contracts will be signed with neighbouring regions. Trash will have to be put somewhere» – comments Maksym Makukha, technical expert, NGO «Ekoltava».

Lviv spends about 300 million hryvnias yearly for waste removal. For Poltava, the same amount of money could compensate expenses for new refuse dump.

«In theory, the plant that mechanically and biologically processes or incinerates trash, would decrease the amount of wastes by 70% or even 90%» – adds Maksym Makukha.

In over 60 years the pit was filled up completely! In early 2000s regional sanitary-and-epidemiologic station has issued a prescription which says that the landfill is overfilled and needs to be recultivated.

Has anything changed altogether?

Currently the enterprise has a section where they collect and pick out the recyclables.

«Additional sorting of recyclable wastes from respective containers is done manually. Since 2021, during 9 months, the enterprise has given to recycling: 42 442 kg of plastic, 89 277 kg of waste paper, 144 375 kg of PET-bottles, 173 321 kg of glass» — informs KATP-1628.

Yet the recyclables good for multiple use constitute only one-tenth of general volume, therefore, these measures can not solve the problem alone. 

When the landfill is the size of that in Makukhivka, first of all it is important to pay attention to hazardous factors.

Why is landfill so dangerous?

Landfill is neither a refuse dump, nor a specialized construction facility that is built in compliance with state construction norms and thus prevents discharging hazardous substances into natural environment.

Landfill in Makukhivka is a source of numerous threats. Any given part of its territory is dangerous for life and health of people nearby.

Wastes on landfill are of various kind – food odds, debris, leaves and branches, medical wastes, batteries, mercury and fluorescent bulbs, tyres, fabrics, plastic and glass.

«Natural factors like heat, light, precipitation cause decay of organic substances, and this process emits odour. Water solutes these compounds and takes them into soil and ground waters. Think of filtrate lake as a bath full of heavy metals. The landfill has no anti-filtrate screen, that is, protective cover that keeps filtrate from percolating» – says Yuliya Avramenko, analyst, NGO «Ekoltava». 

Within the research «I live near the landfill» NGO «Ekoltava» had numerous conversations with people of Makukhivka in order to detect harm from living near landfills. So how this thing affects the life of its direct neighbours? 

«One day we took water samples from local wells and analysis proved that this water is unsuitable for drinking, yet the majority uses it for watering crops, household activity, some even drink it» – accounts Maryna Tsyhryk, CEO, NGO «Ekoltava»

The landfill has no barriers for disinfection of vehicles. After dumping trash garbage trucks of KATP-1628 drive within the town. Now if we remember that landfill is a source of infectious diseases, then the idea of walking barefooted in the town becomes hardly attractive.

«The landfill has no fence either. If you’ve ever been around, you could see pines wrapped up in polyethylene, so it means that trash is gradually taken farther and farther away» –  proceeds Yuliya Avramenko.

The birds are dangerous too, as they eat food remnants and migrate, thus carrying agents of diseases on their legs and feathers. State construction norms require refuse dumps to have specialized sound equipment to scare birds.

«Since unsorted wastes are not covered with layer of ground, this leads to frequent fires – sunlight passes through glass and heats the surface of flammable trash. We’ve seen this many times on hot summer days» – added Yuliya Avramenko.

So your banana peel along with thousands of similar peels starts fires on the landfill!

«The landfill in Makukhivka takes mixed wastes, that is, all the things we throw in our trash buckets. These are mostly organic wastes, they decay and emit biogas that contains methane. Methane typically causes fires on the landfill in Makukhivka» – explains Maryna Tsyhryk.

The landfill in Makukhivka is not a refuse dump, but if it is used as one, then it must have at least basic safety measures.

Does Makukhivka have any future?

Population of Makukhivka and publicity of Poltava have repeatedly evoked town council to solve the tricky issue, but for now everything remains the same.

We may intend to think that all the demerits will lead us to collapse, but in fact, steady handling of the problem may mean salvation for our town.

The problem of municipal solid waste management must not be avoided! The amount of wastes increases and they need to be utilized and recycled. 

«Last year we’ve inspected the contents of wastes, that is, defined the percentage of its components in an average trash container. We’ve found out that around 50% of it are organic wastes. It means that urban composting can decrease the number of fires on the landfill» – proposes Maryna Tsyhryk.

Proper negotiations and implementing of their results may make the landfill a driving force for economic development of hromada thanks to jobs for locals, payments to local budget and improvement of respective traffic infrastructure.

Recultivation of landfills is not a myth anymore!

• Recultivation has turned the world’s biggest rubbish pile «Fresh Kills Park» (USA) into a natural reserve. New York prospects profits from  available unbuilt area. Projects last and involve partners like Forest service USDA, College of Staten Island (CSI), CUNY, University of St. Jones and others.
• After closing up Xing Zhou dump in Wuhan in 2005 there has emerged an environmental risk of pollution of neighbouring areas by biogas and filtrate. Thanks to the project of recultivation there was renovated over 52 hectares of land for urban verdurization, thus land price has increased, economic development of adjacent neighbourhoods has boosted. 125 million dollars have been spared in comparison with traditional recultivation methods. The recultivation, started in 2014, stipulated definite sequence of planting and selection of species together with measures of soil improvement.

The question is who pays for establishment of infrastructure and recultivation of old landfill. Feasible approach stipulates including fee for recycling into rates for waste removal (yes, this has to be payed, even for organic wastes!). 

«The current fee hardly compensates expenses at removal and burial. Yet KATP continues to take funds from town budget in order to buy new machinery. Indeed, the enterprise is not profitable. Therefore, not a single “investor” is attracted by these conditions. Also, Ukrainian Supreme Council has got to pass the law on manufacturers’ extra responsibility and thus force producers to pay for recycling of generated wastes, for instance, packaging for their goods. It is no secret, really, that most plastics are merely non-recyclable, yet they are still widely used for wrapping.

Otherwise, we shall have these problems all the same, as they are of systemic nature. And the landfill of Poltava (located in Makukhivka) is only a symptom.

Concerning people who live near this landfill, I believe it is fair to pay to the special fund for the hazard they are subjected to. Then these contributions will be directed strictly to the needs of hromadas near the landfill. This is another common world practice. Or we’ll never find the spot for waste-processing plant”– accounts Maksym Makukha, technical expert, NGO «Ekoltava».

Makukhivka has the future, but it depends on activity of authorities, not locals alone!

By: Anzhela Pysarenko