Minsk approves waste-handling scheme: paper, plastic, glass and metal in one container, fines for citizens up to 1350 rubles

The Minsk City Executive Committee has published on its website the approved municipal waste-handling scheme for Minsk. The Minsk City Committee of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection spoke about its content on November 5.

For violations of the rules, individual entrepreneurs face a fine of up to 4500 rubles. The penalties for citizens and legal entities are given below.

The main novelty for Minsk residents is the switch to collecting mixed secondary material resources in a single shared container. Paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal can now be put in together.

The contents of the shared container will be sent to a waste-sorting plant. Under the scheme, recyclables must be collected at least twice a week.

The scheme establishes residents' obligation to separate their waste. According to the Minsk City Committee of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, individuals are required to sort waste and store it only in designated places. Storing waste outside authorised sites is prohibited.

Plant waste must be collected separately: handed over for recycling or used for compost on one's own plot.

Fines are set for violations: up to 30 base units for citizens, up to 100 for individual entrepreneurs, and up to 1000 for legal entities. That is up to 1350, up to 4500 and up to 45000 rubles respectively.

By calculation, the difference between the upper fine limit for an individual and for a legal entity is 3233%.

The document also sets out plans for developing courtyard infrastructure through 2031. In courtyards, the installation of enclosed modular structures and the scheduled closing of garbage chutes in apartment buildings will continue. Side-loading vehicles will be replaced with modern rear-loading ones.

Specialists cite figures: Minsk produces more than 400 thousand tonnes of household waste a year, and more than 4 thousand container sites have been equipped to collect it.

Almost 42 thousand containers for mixed waste and more than 22 thousand containers for separate collection have been installed in courtyards. According to the Minsk City Committee of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, all collected waste goes through sorting before it reaches a landfill.

Three collection systems operate in the city: containers, drop-off points and door-to-door collection rounds.

The new scheme, as private Belarusian outlets report, is meant to address residents' long-standing complaints about the sorting system. The exact date when the fines will start to apply has not been given.

In October 2024, the law of December 29, 2023 amending the law "On Waste Management" came into force.