The ban on burial of unprocessed wastes, which comes into force in 2018, is obliged to provide local authorities, they had enough time to prepare for this, emphasizes the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ostap Semerak.

“As for the law, of which you are saying: it imposes obligations on local self-government bodies to carry out this work.There was enough time for local authorities to prepare for the fulfillment of the duties assigned to them by these laws,” he said during the “hour of questions” to the government in parliament on Friday.

People’s deputy from the faction “Bloc Petro Poroshenko” Ivan Rybak asked whether the law on prohibiting the burial of unprocessed household waste since January 1, 2018 could be delayed because local authorities lack the infrastructure for handling and processing waste.

“All the norms of the current Ukrainian legislation must be fulfilled, and this is the basis of our stability … If there are appeals to the Ukrainian parliament and government from local governments to correct this legislation, let’s discuss this together with the committee, with the ministry,” O. Semerak said.

According to the minister, 80% of the environmental tax remains on the ground. At the same time, O. Semerak noted, 70% of the tax amount received is not used.

The head of the Ministry of Ecology added that a year ago the department created an interactive map of landfills on the territory of Ukraine. It displays about 6,000 official landfills, and several thousand more unofficial ones.

“One of the conclusions that local self-government bodies that are authorized, have functions and even money to carry out such work, are not always ready and do not always make the most of their attention,” O. Semerak said