Within the framework of the implementation of the international technical assistance project “Sustainable Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Chemicals in the Republic of Belarus, GEF-6” (Project), coordinated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, work continues to eliminate stocks of persistent organic pollutants – capacitors containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and to export them outside the country for environmentally safe destruction.
The removal of PCBs within the Project is organized in two stages. Since the beginning of 2023, during the first stage, more than 500 tons of PCB waste have been removed to specialized plants in France and Switzerland. This stage involved enterprises of the Ministry of Energy system, industrial enterprises from all regions of Belarus, which were the largest owners of PCBs or became consolidation centers for the department’s enterprises.
The second stage involved about 150 enterprises, most of which had small volumes of PCB-containing waste. Therefore, an important point was the process of centralized collection or consolidation of waste in one place for their subsequent repackaging, loading and transportation outside the country. Such a consolidation center was the “Complex for the processing and disposal of toxic industrial waste of the Gomel region” in the Chechersk district of the Gomel region. During the second stage, more than 630 tons of hazardous waste were removed and destroyed.
On April 8 of this year, the first stage of waste removal was completed. Under the newly obtained permit for transboundary movement, PCB-containing waste belonging to Belarusian Railways was removed for destruction. The site in Baranovichi became a consolidation center for the enterprise, which ensured preparation for the removal of more than 43 tons of hazardous waste. Currently, the waste has been delivered to a specialized enterprise in the city of Sainte-Vulba (France), where it will be destroyed by high-temperature incineration.
Thanks to the Project and the coordinated actions of all stakeholders, Belarusian Railways was able to eliminate 8 PCB-containing waste storage facilities, which are impossible to destroy on the territory of our country.
