This regulatory legal act sets out in a new edition the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 20, 2007 No. 271-Z “On Waste Management”, in accordance with which, taking into account the practice of application, a number of changes to the legislation on waste management are provided.
According to the new version of the Law, the terminology in the field of waste management has undergone changes:
- the definitions of the terms “waste”, “waste management”, “municipal waste”, “industrial waste”, “waste use”, “waste transportation”, “waste disposal” and others have been clarified;
- the terms “secondary raw materials” and “waste preparation” have been excluded;
- new terms and their definitions have been introduced: “temporary storage of waste”, “long-term storage of waste”, “waste preparation”, “waste sorting”, “medical waste”, “pollution of the environment with waste”;
- the alternative terms “waste disposal” and “waste recycling” have been introduced in the context of the term “waste use”.
The main principles in the field of waste management have been clarified, and the main directions of a unified state policy in this area have been introduced in order of their priority:
- prevention of waste generation;
- reduction of waste generation volumes;
- waste recycling;
- use of waste for energy production;
- use of waste for the performance of work (provision of services);
- waste disposal.
- their procurement and (or) sorting – to business entities carrying out activities related to the procurement and (or) sorting of waste;
- their use – at facilities included in the register of waste use facilities, as well as use for isolating waste layers – at waste disposal facilities included in the register of waste storage, disposal and neutralization facilities;
- their neutralization and (or) disposal – at facilities included in the register of waste storage, disposal and neutralization facilities;
- performance of research, development, and experimental and technological work related to the use and (or) neutralization of waste;
- their removal for use, neutralization, disposal and (or) storage outside the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
Also, the new edition of the Law stipulates the norms concerning the acquisition of the right of ownership of consumer waste and secondary material resources obtained as a result of the demolition of objects and having a value, namely:
- a legal entity providing solid municipal waste management services acquires ownership rights to such waste from the moment of its placement in authorized waste storage facilities by natural persons who are both producers and owners of such waste in relation to consumer waste;
- the right of ownership of secondary material resources obtained as a result of the demolition of objects and having a value, from the moment of formation of such waste, is acquired by the customer or the contractor on the basis of the contract concluded in accordance with the civil legislation.
Changes have been made to the norms concerning “unclaimed” waste.The new version of the Law specifies that waste found on land plots is considered the property of land users of these plots, who are obliged to ensure their collection and removal, as well as take other measures to prevent their harmful effects on the environment, human health, and property. In the case of identification of waste producers who have placed waste on land plots that do not belong to them, the specified producers carry out the collection and removal of these wastes, as well as take other measures to prevent their harmful impact on the environment, human health, property, or reimburse the cost of such works to the named land user .
The range of economic entities for which the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Waste Management” provided for exceptions in terms of compliance with the general requirements of the legislation for waste management has been specified.
In accordance with the new version of the Law, individual entrepreneurs and microorganisms, with the exception of individual entrepreneurs and microorganisms engaged in the procurement, sorting, use, rendering harmless, burial and (or) long-term storage of waste, are exempt from the obligation to appoint officials (authorized) responsible for waste management, develop, approve and submit for approval instructions for handling industrial waste, and ensure the development and approval of standards for the formation of industrial waste.
Individual entrepreneurs, with the exception of individual entrepreneurs engaged in the procurement, sorting, use, rendering harmless, burial and (or) long-term storage of waste, are exempt from the obligation to keep records of waste and conduct an inventory thereof. Legal entities are required to keep records of waste and conduct an inventory thereof.
As part of the optimization of administrative procedures carried out in relation to business entities, the requirements for the need to develop, approve and coordinate schemes for handling waste generated on lands of environmental, health, recreational and historical-cultural designation have been eliminated. The corresponding procedure for handling such waste is provided for in the instructions for handling industrial waste and (or) schemes for handling municipal waste.
The new version of the Law has revised a number of new requirements for the implementation of activities related to the use, disposal, burial and storage of waste, including the placement, construction, operation, decommissioning and (or) demolition of facilities where such activities are carried out.
Thus, in particular:
- performance of research, development and experimental-technological work related to the use and disposal of waste is permitted only in accordance with the priority areas of scientific, scientific-technical and innovation activities determined in the manner established by the President of the Republic of Belarus, and in relation to the amount of waste established by the technical specifications;
- use of waste by individuals for their own needs is permitted, with the exception of the use of waste included in the list of waste, the transfer of which to individuals is prohibited, established by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus;
- use of waste (estimate) from cleaning of territories (except for the territories of industrial enterprises) is permitted for the isolation of waste layers in accordance with the technical code of established practice establishing technical requirements for the operation of such facilities, approved by the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities jointly with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection;
in addition to the previously existing prohibitions, it is also prohibited (not allowed):
- use, neutralization and burial of waste by business entities without the appropriate technological regulations (except for certain cases of neutralization of medical waste aimed at the destruction of pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms);
- burial of waste subject to neutralization and consumer waste that has not been sorted, if the necessary conditions have been created on the territory of the administrative-territorial unit where the burial is carried out to ensure the sorting of such waste (sorting stations, points for additional sorting of municipal waste) in the volumes of their generation and (or) regional facilities for sorting solid municipal waste, the production capacity of which corresponds to the volumes of generation of such waste;
- operation of waste use and waste neutralization facilities without the presence of capital structures (buildings, structures) or parts thereof, erected and (or) reconstructed for the storage of waste and (or) products obtained with their use;
- operation of waste disposal and storage facilities that are not included in the register of waste storage, disposal and disposal facilities;
- placement and construction on lands: for environmental protection, health, recreational and historical-cultural purposes, water and forest resources – waste management facilities, for agricultural purposes – waste management facilities and disposal facilities, gardening associations and dacha cooperatives – waste storage and disposal facilities;
- use of organic waste for the insulation of waste layers;
- exceeding the amount of waste disposal and the amount of insulating material for the insulation of waste layers provided for in the design documentation for the construction of a waste disposal facility;
- acceptance for disposal of waste in quantities exceeding the limits for the disposal of industrial waste established for producers of such waste in permits for the storage and disposal of industrial waste or in comprehensive environmental permits.
In order to systematize and ensure safe handling of medical waste and waste generated during the performance of tasks to ensure national security and defense, the new version of the Law grants the Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the authority to establish the procedure for handling medical waste, and the Ministry of Defense, in agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the procedure for the disposal of waste generated during the performance of tasks to ensure national security and defense.
The new version of the Law establishes the authority of the President of the Republic of Belarus to implement state regulation in the field of handling scrap and waste of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and clarifies the legal regulation of relations in the field of handling such waste.
In addition, the legal regulation of relations in the field of handling other types of waste has been clarified:
- relations arising in the process of handling radioactive waste, waste contaminated with radionuclides as a result of the Chernobyl disaster below the level established by regulatory legal acts, including technical regulatory legal acts for radioactive waste, waste explosives and materials, are regulated by legislation on nuclear and radiation safety, on the legal regime of territories subject to radioactive contamination as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, on weapons;
- relations arising in the process of handling animal products classified as waste are regulated by legislation in the field of veterinary activity, with the exception of relations arising in the process of destruction of feed and feed additives classified as waste, which are regulated by the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Waste Management” and other legislative acts on waste management;
- relations arising in the process of waste management in the performance of tasks to ensure national security and defense are regulated by the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Waste Management” and other legislative acts on waste management, unless otherwise provided by defense legislation;
- relations related to the import and (or) export of waste are regulated by the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Waste Management” and other legislative acts on waste management, legislation on foreign economic activity, on customs regulation, international treaties of the Republic of Belarus, international legal acts constituting the law of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The main provisions of Law № 333-Z shall enter into force nine months after its official publication.
