“Waste and war”: a new analytical research by Ekoltava

What was the influence of war on the amount of waste in host hromadas? What is the morphological composition of waste in Poltava and Lviv? Do humanitarian hubs segregate waste while helping internally displaced persons and people suffered from war?

“Waste and war” – this is the research by NGO “Ekoltava” completed in cooperation with NGO “Zero waste Lviv” within Initiative on development of environmental policy and advocation in Ukraine, implemented under support of International fund “Vidrodzhennia”, and financial promotion from Sweden.

The research has been pointed at detection of changes in amount and quality of waste generated in Ukrainian host hromadas during russian aggression in Ukraine. The inspection lasted from November, 2022 till June, 2023. 

Through this period, experts have obtained the following outcomes:

• there emerged new waste generators: humanitarian hubs that provide humanitarian aid, meals, and accommodation for IDPs;
• most hubs generally discard paper, plastics, biowaste, and mixed household waste;
• waste segregation is poor (9 out of 13 respondents), packaging re-use is insufficient (6 out of 13) in the hubs;
• there exists a problem of hazardous waste, like expired medicine. Hubs have no idea how to manage it;
• there is a need for organic waste management (which includes food waste management), as they compose over 50% of total amount of waste;
• according to morphological analysis, in both host hromadas food leftovers compose 50–58% of waste, plastics — 15–29%, glass — 5,5–6%;
• proofs are found that in emergency cases the cheapest and most affordable materials are used (disposable polymers) to satisfy urgent needs (meals, household purposes).

Consequently, during the research experts from Ekoltava have developed guidelines on efficient solid municipal waste management in emergency cases, for humanitarian hubs, population, and enterprises that remove and bury waste.

Also, an overview of legislation related to disposable polymers management has been completed, and the list of eco-substitutes has been given.

The full text of report on the research is available on Ekoltava website, section “Informational materials”.

This newspiece is completed within Project «Inspection of solid waste management sector in host hromadas in the time of russian aggression in Ukraine», implemented within Initiative on development of environmental policy and advocation in Ukraine, implemented by International fund “Vidrodzhennia” under financial support of Sweden.