How do humanitarian hubs in Poltava manage waste?

In Poltava, there currently runs the Project «Inspection of solid municipal waste management in host hromadas during russian aggression in Ukraine». Within it, Ekoltava’s team has completed in-depth interviews with representatives from humanitarian hubs of the town. 

“We wanted to know what kinds of waste these hubs have to deal with, and whether they reuse packaging, or cooperate with collection points for recyclables, or segregate waste. The received data have been systematized and then, conclusions were made”, – says project manager, Nadiya Hroza.

The interviews were participated by 7 biggest humanitarian hubs of Poltava, which host internally displaced persons, or get foodstuff, hot meals, clothing, items of personal hygiene etc. These were Charity organisation “Poltava Battalion of the Caring”, hub “Warm jacket”, restaurant “V Myaso”, Charity fund “Caritas Poltava”, dormitory of “Ukrainian medical dentist academy”, daycare center №35 “Berizka”, Poltava general education school №27.

“Every day we provide help of various kinds for about 500 people. Around 15 000 persons monthly get this or that kind of help. During wartime approximately 130 000 IDPs have received our support”, – says project manager of Charity fund “Caritas Poltava”, Alla Rakovets’ka.

Waste generated by humanitarian hubs the most are mixed municipal waste, organic waste (mostly food remnants), discarded plastic and paper. Yet, every hub typically produces specific waste that depends on its chief activity. For instance, “Warm jacket” generates fabric remnants the most, and restaurant “V Myaso” has biowaste in the first place. And Charity organization “Poltava Battalion of the Caring” sometimes had to deal with hazardous waste like expired medicine.

• There is expired medicine, sometimes it gets to us with humanitarian aid, and we have no idea what to do with it. It is stored in our warehouse. Some part of it was used by our volunteer, she has completed an art-object “Assault-rifle made of pills” for an exhibition in Poltava. This piece of art is now shown outside Poltava, and so some part of pills was used this way. The other part remains, as we’re helpless to decide where to put it, – says deputy of Poltava town council, Yuliya Horodchanina.

Most hubs embraced by the inspection segregate waste, some of them cooperate with collection points for recyclables.

• Clothing items (fabrics) undergo sorting and once they are worn-out and impossible to wear, their part of definite colours is given away for meshes, carpets for servicemen, the rest goes to car service stations for mechanicians to wipe their hands.The only rub is with leather, so worn-out clothes and footwear is thrown away into containers for mixed waste, as there are no other ones around. Cardboard boxes are collected by volunteers and then taken to recycling points, obtained funds are directed to the needs of Ukrainian Armed Forces, – hub manager, “Warm jacket”, Dmytro Kanyshchev.

Hubs are ready to sort definite kinds of waste once there are specialized containers nearby. Other conclusions out of completed in-depth interviews are the following:

1. For handing out ready-made meals, hubs could use paper dishes instead of disposable plastic ones, if they would have been available.
2. People who segregate paper, glass, and plastic and put it into specialized containers, would like to know its destiny.
3. Some hubs are interested in cooperation with organization that collects and removes waste within Poltava – CMTE-1628, but have little time for it. 
4. Hubs are ready to sort out definite kinds of waste if there are specialized containers nearby, not only those for mixed waste.

At the same time, the representatives of all questioned humanitarian hubs would like to see Poltava a clean and neat town, and wish the better for it. 

The project «Inspection of solid municipal waste management in host hromadas during russian aggression in Ukraine» is implemented by NGO “Ekoltava” together with NGO “Zero waste. Lviv” since November 2022. Within it, the analysis of morphological composition of trash in Poltava and Lviv was completed.

 

This article is created within the Project «Inspection of solid municipal waste management in host hromadas during russian aggression in Ukraine», implemented within the Initiative of the development of environmental policy and advocation in Ukraine, that is carried out by International fund “Vidrodzhennya” under financial support of Sweden.