# Belarusians produce more than 500 kg of household waste per person a year, the Ministry of Natural Resources says

- URL: https://syn.by/en/society/belarusians-produce-500-kg-waste/
- Published: 2026-11-12T18:30:55+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-12T18:30:55+00:00
- Section: Society
- Language: en
- RU edition: https://syn.by/ru/obshchestvo/belorusy-proizvodyat-500-kg-musora.md
- BE edition: https://syn.by/hramadztva/bielarusy-vyrabliajuc-500-kh-smieccia.md

> According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, about 70% of industrial waste is large-tonnage residue that is piling up in the country for lack of technologies.

![](https://syn.by/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/illustration-7131-1024x585.webp)

In 2025, Belarus generated 58.1 million tonnes of industrial waste and 4.7 million tonnes of solid municipal waste. This was stated on 12 November at a press conference at the House of the Press by Maksim Tarasau, deputy head of the waste management regulation department at the Ministry of Natural Resources: "Every year Belarus generates about 60 million tonnes of waste: in 2025 – 58.1 million tonnes of industrial waste and 4.7 million tonnes of solid municipal waste."

According to Belarusian state media, about 70% of industrial waste is large-tonnage residue: potash production waste and phosphogypsum. For lack of technologies, it is for now accumulating on the country's territory. Reports of the press conference do not say which technologies for processing it are planned.

Each resident of the country accounts for more than 500 kilograms of solid municipal waste a year. Industrial waste is generated in much larger amounts: in 2025 the volume of industrial waste exceeded the volume of household waste by 53400000 tonnes.

Specialists explain the sizeable figure by the growing amount of various kinds of packaging and by rising living standards. According to them, people change phones and laptops more often, and electronic waste worldwide is growing faster than the population.

In 2024, more than 25 thousand tonnes of electronic waste were collected in Belarus. At that time, according to Belarusian state media, [modern technologies were being introduced](https://belarus-news.by/news/v-komitete-goskontrolya-rassmotreli-effektivnost-pererabotki-tko) to improve the municipal waste management system.