WASTE MANAGEMENT IN

KAZAKHSTAN

H I ST O R Y O

F AN T H R O P C E N E

Nurbolat Khamitov

IMPORTANCE OF THE ISSUE

“…waste management is a problem area and a major brake on economic growth…”

Usen Suleimen, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of

Kazakhstan[2]

IMPORTANCE OF THE ISSUEKazakhstan in 2014, according to

the World Bank entered the top 50 countries with highest GDP. The progress remains uneven due to the undeveloped waste management services. [3]

European ecology standards are unknown and seem absurd to Kazakh people. Waste and toxic excesses are being dumped without any safety measures or just buried. [2]

WASTE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUESThe following methods to manage

techniques already exist: on-site disposal, composting, incineration, open dumps are the ones used for solid waste management; integrated waste management (IWM) is used for reducing the waste that has to be disposed [1]. These methods are being implemented in Kazakhstan. But still, only from 1% to 5% is being recycled and reused.

IMPORTANCE OF THE ISSUEThe amount of the wastes in our

country is high – about 1000 tons for each one of the 17 mln population.

Kazakhstan still suffers from the outcomes of the nuclear and biological weapon tests made by the Soviet Union on its territory – now the pollution is worsening the situation. [2]

OUTCOMES

Bad ecology => health issues for the population

Bad economy => industries lose money due to inefficient spending of resources

SOLUTION• Learn from the best (West)• Create new waste management

companies in the segment• Enforce new laws• Upgrade the industrial

technologies• Set high standards and strict laws

with high penalties• Create green political party

WHAT IS BEING DONE

Sovereign wealth fund “Samruk Kazyna” made the waste management and better use of energy of high priority

EXPO-2017 is going to be held in Astana. The topic of the EXPO is “Future Energy” and green technologies [2]

WHAT IS BEING DONE AT NU

Separate litter bins => waste is now categorized https://youtu.be/icXqTl19t3k

Paper recycling campaign => over 1196kg of paper was collected only in March, 2016 [5]

SUGGESTED SOLUTION• Implementation of segregated litter bins in all

the universities of Astana => Kazakhstan => all educational organizations => all governmental organizations => everywhere in the country

• Raise the awareness of people (make it a trend, use SNS stars)

• Subsidize waste management concerned organizations

• Give people rewards for submitting large amounts of waste products, encourage them to segregate waste

• Develop more useful recycling cycles for the waste (e.g. use mixed waste in agriculture; sell bottles for water which can be used many times, etc.)

REFERENCES[1] Keller, E. A., & Botkin, D. B. (2008). Chapters 16 and 19 in Essential

environmental science.[2] Khozheuly, Edil, PhD (Economics). "Kazakhstan Better Waste

Management Infrastructure & Regulations Needed." « Recycling « Waste Management World. October 14, 2014. Accessed April 27, 2016. https://waste-management-world.com/a/kazakhstan-better-waste-management-infrastructure-regulations-needed.

[3] "List of Countries by GDP (nominal)." Wikipedia. Accessed April 27, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal).

[4] NWP. "Waste Management Situation in Kazakhstan." Waste Management Situation in Kazakhstan. January 2013. Accessed April 27, 2016. https://www.nwp.nl/sites/default/files/kazakhstan_waste_report.pdf.

[5] Rakhmatullina Aygerim. (2016). Letter titled: Recycled Paper Report- Big Boxes needed