Launched landfills are dangerous for nature and attract criminals

Initially, I was going to make a report about a huge garbage dump near the village of Gribovichi near the city of Lviv in the west of Ukraine. However, I just could not get there.

This is one of the largest landfills in Europe, it is very neglected, dangerous for the environment, and now it is already closed.

They closed it after three people died, carcass fire, which began in the mass of debris in May 2016.

Now the territory is surrounded by a metal net and barbed wire, and the only entrance is guarded by a barking dog and three sour-looking men. Despite the fact that earlier I was promised to allow me to inspect the dump, I was not allowed to enter and make at least a few photos.

Negligence, which led to a garbage accident

In fact, the dump should have been closed much earlier, since it is already crowded. The Gribovichi landfill had a permit for 10.4 million tons of waste, but now there are at least 12 million tons.

The city authorities showed negligence and did nothing to start work. When the dump was closed, there was not even a plan as to where the city garbage would now be taken.

This led to the fact that the city stopped to take out the garbage, the garbage containers overflowed, the hordes of rats attacked the delicacies, and the townspeople were enraged.

Suddenly, a beautiful medieval city with stylish architecture turned into a stinky hole in which local residents suffer and where tourists do not want to come anymore.

Now the problem is temporarily solved, as the city has concluded an agreement with neighboring areas, and garbage is now taken there.

This is not the most durable solution, but at least more than 700 thousand Lviv residents will be spared from the terrible stench and rats.

Garbage is a problem of a nationwide scale

Those in power still do not have a clear plan on how to sanitize the Gribović dump, and what to do with garbage in the future.

Vice-governor of Lviv Andrei Moskalenko said that the city was negotiating with foreign investors, and the preparation of a plan for the construction of a modern processing station was begun. But he failed to give an answer when the station, presumably, could be ready.

Lviv is not the only city that has faced such a problem. 96% of all garbage in Ukraine is brought to landfills of a similar type, that is, to obsolete landfill sites without sorting or incineration of waste.

The scale of the problem becomes clear when you hear that there are at least 30,000 such landfills in the country.

No one invests in the sorting of garbage, its burning or in methane stations, because in Ukraine very little fees are spent on waste processing.

Of course, some sort of rubbish sorts. Vice-governor of Lviv Moskalenko, for example, proudly talks about how homeless people sort out garbage and thereby earn trifles.

Very often these homeless people live in garbage containers. They dig in garbage and collect what can be sold. First of all, this is scrap metal.

This smelly occupation turns out to be so profitable that groups are formed that fight for the right to delve into the garbage. Collecting scrap earn a penny, but those who sell it later, remain in a big win.

Dangerous waste is thrown on the nature

When I was not allowed to go to the Gribović dump, I decided to look around. By chance, I climbed a small mound right in front of a closed dump.

The view that opened to me was simply monstrous.

In the pit, filled with some liquid, there were automobile tires. Apparently, the liquid was caustic, as some of the tires melted. Near the pit was a large pond, also filled with rubbish. The liquid in the pond was thick and dark brown.

Illegal and very environmentally hazardous landfills of this type are very common in Ukraine and in other countries where garbage processing is bad. Both enterprises and individuals simply throw waste into the surrounding nature.

Firstly, this is due to the fact that there is no specific place where waste can be taken, and secondly, it is worth the money to hand over problem waste.

Gardens with vegetables near the trash

Near the garbage dump is a holiday village, that is, an area where townspeople have small summer houses with vegetable gardens and fruit trees.

It is known that harmful particles spread from the garbage mountain through the air, especially when a fire begins on the heap. In addition, poisons and heavy metals enter the water.

At the bus stop, people are waiting for the bus to the city. The majority – pensioners, who were at their dachas and harvested.
For example, Irina, who does not want to give her name.

“We have a dacha here for thirty years, our vegetables are very tasty,” Irina says.

She is not at all worried about the garbage dump, which is very near, but on the whole she believes that the issues of ecology are very important.

“Chemicals will not lead to anything good, and nuclear energy is a global problem that specialists must solve,” Irina says.

She believes that the future generation will decide this issue. They are better versed in environmental problems, they traveled and looked, as, for example, garbage is sorted elsewhere in Europe.

“And we, old people, will help later.”

A little better for neighbors

In garbage dumps large amounts of methane are formed, when organic waste, i.e. bio-waste, lies in large piles without access to oxygen. This gas can be collected and used in power plants.

Methane power stations near garbage dumps already exist in some areas of the neighboring country of Belarus in Belarus. These power plants were built in cooperation with international investors and energy companies.

One such power plant is in the city of Vitebsk in north-eastern Belarus.

The power station looks very elegant and elegant, standing next to the very entrance to the garbage dump.

The landfill director, Elena Leonidovna, promised Yle interview, but when we met, she nonetheless stated that she did not have time. Only greeted and drove away without answering any questions.

Electricity from the garbage mountain

The garbage mountain looks like everyone else: large mountains of waste rise above the clay road, along which trucks and tractors drive, dropping their garbage.

Among the debris people walk. I guess they collect what can be sold.

The 1 megawatt methane power plant, owned by the Swedish company Vireo Energy, is now operating at almost full capacity, says chief engineer Dmitry Moiseev.

“We produce 800 kilowatts and with this help we supply electricity to a large suburban area,” he says.

When he shows me the territory where there are several new blue buildings, there is a downpour. Inside buildings – machines and measuring instruments. Here, the gas intake is regulated and the motors that produce electricity are buzzed here.

Behind all very well watched, and Dmitry Moiseyev clearly proud of the fact that he works in a modern enterprise.

The gas power station was built in 2013, and after its commissioning, fires in the landfill became less. In addition, a bad smell disappeared.

Methane – a greenhouse, much more dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide. The use of this gas is at the same time a measure in the fight against climate change.

Vireo Energy has four power plants in Belarus