Environmental reform isn't working? Two years ago, parliament adopted the Law “On Waste Management,” designed to bring Ukraine to European standards in the field of waste processing and disposal.
This is especially true for the management of medical and construction waste after Russian attacks, the improper disposal of which can lead to catastrophic consequences for public health and the environment.
The document clearly states the requirements for companies that have the right to engage in this activity, and to date only 25 enterprises have received the appropriate licenses. But the transparency and safety of their activities are questionable.
Our team went on a large-scale raid to check how licensed enterprises operate in the Cherkasy and Zaporozhye regions, as well as in Brovary in the Kiev region. And they found a number of glaring probable violations that the Ministry of Environment should pay attention to.
After the adoption of the Law “On Waste Management” in 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers had to approve clear rules and mechanisms for its actual implementation. However, this process was delayed for almost six months. And as a result, firms have only a few weeks left to obtain licenses instead of several months. And on January 9, 2024, in violation of the law, the register of licensees disappeared from the website of the central government authority.
The situation was commented on by the managing director of the State Association of Enterprises in the Field of Hazardous Waste Management, Kirill Kosourov. According to him, the licensing conditions, like the entire “garbage” reform, were discussed quite widely and at all levels with the professional community. However, difficulties still could not be avoided.
“In fact, we came to the conclusion that the deadlines for accepting these licensing conditions were violated, and accordingly, the preparation period for licensees was reduced. there was no reason, and accordingly the market froze for about a month and a half. There was a certain pause, a vacuum among service providers for operations with hazardous waste,” he emphasized.
Indeed, it turns out that in the period from January 9 to February 1, 2024, not a single licensed enterprise existed in Ukraine.
What happened to hazardous waste at this time? Compiled or disposed of illegally?
According to experts, this factor could contribute to the emergence of a kind of “shadow market” for waste recycling. However, subsequently companies began to receive permits, and the Ministry of Natural Resources even posted a special guide on its website “5 steps to obtain a license and work transparently according to the new European rules.” Today, there are 25 licensed enterprises in the official register.
But do all of them strictly follow the procedures and rules? StopCor decided to see for himself.
The first stop during this raid was the Cherkasy region.
“For a journalistic investigation, we traveled 200 km from Kyiv, so now we are in Cherkassy. This is where one of the recycling plants is located. We will monitor their work throughout the day and, in case of violations, record them on camera,” the journalist comments.
It is in the Cherkasy region that one of the licensees operates - the Olestas-Eco enterprise, registered back in 2012. The owner and director is Chuprina Alexander Alexandrovich, the deputy director for production is Chuprina Oles Alexandrovich, and the chief ecologist is Chuprina Stanislav Alexandrovich. Such a related contract, which is indirectly indicated by the name of the company (Olexander + Oles + Stanislav = “OLESTAS”).
Even at the entrance to the family company, media workers recorded thick black smoke coming out of the chimney. According to experts, such soot and color for a licensed enterprise is a gross violation. Indeed, according to the requirements, such facilities must have a powerful cleaning system that minimizes harmful emissions. We can assume that such a device really exists, otherwise Olestas would not have been given a license.
But it looks like it's either not in use or it's outdated and in need of renovation.
“As it is considered in the Ministry: there must be technological regulations, experts look at how realistic it looks. This process schedule then displays which equipment is used for which operations.
Accordingly, when the pre-licensing commission goes to the enterprise, they check whether this equipment really exists and what condition it is in, because as far as I know, during some visits there is a stove, and it is clear that it was dusty and was never lit,” comments Kirill Kosourov.
20 meters from here, journalists noticed a small underground storage room.
“We get closer and see waste and a car that was probably loaded with garbage. Soon she moved to another point, directly to where recycling takes place. But what surprised us most were these sharp-chested hens. It’s like a small poultry farm in the middle of toxic garbage,” says Diana Zhuk.
During the surveillance, investigators also noticed a car leaving the Olestas gate. According to the license plates, the car belongs to the owner, Alexander Chuprina, but the driver is not him, but his son Oles. Probably, as a responsible deputy director, he independently controls all processes.
At the same time, Olestas-Eco has been surrounded by scandals for several years, and not only in its native Cherkasy region.
In particular, the company appears in the publication of a Dnipro edition about a dubious medical tender: “Hospital named after. Mechnikova purchases services from a company accused of poisoning children.”
“The pre-trial investigation established that on May 17, 2017, unidentified persons brought 54 barrels of 200 liters each, belonging to Olestas Eco LLC, to a landfill located in the village of Smirnovka by unidentified persons in a car with a trailer. Three of them had the inscription “methyl mercaptan” on them, as a result of which the land was polluted with waste harmful to the life and health of people, which led to the hospitalization of minors,” says the case file, which the authors of the article refer to.
The company also distinguished itself in the Zhytomyr region, where it was suspected of dumping during a procurement for the disposal of COVID-19 waste, which threatened the region with an environmental disaster. The company "Olestas-Eco" won the tender, offering a price of 53,730 UAH for the disposal of 4,500 kilograms of waste.
Thus, she effectively reduced the cost of her services by more than half compared to other bidders.
The hospital representative did not hide the fact that the determining factor was the low price: “The determining factor for us was the cost of services. As of today, we have concluded an agreement with a much lower price than the Zhytomyr company offered. I don’t know where the company will dispose of waste. He has a license, which means he has the right to dispose of it.”
As for the situation this year, according to StopCor, the Olestas-Eco company has already disposed of more than 806 tons of garbage in six months of work, although their material and technical equipment allows only 258 tons.
“We definitely will not leave this gross violation unattended and hope for a prompt response from law enforcement agencies. If these volumes of garbage are not controlled, then very soon epidemics will be raging in the cities of our country,” the journalist sums up.
The next destination of the film crew is the front-line Zaporozhye region.
In this region, the licensed enterprise is A-energo LLC. This year he has already signed 167 contracts. While on a business trip to Zaporozhye, during the day the Stopkorov workers observed whether hazardous waste was being properly disposed of here, and in case of violations they recorded them on camera.
“The first thing we detect traditionally is smoke. It exists, therefore, some kind of waste neutralization occurs. On the territory we saw a whole flock of tailed employees. The UT300D stove was also recorded. “It’s like garbage in bags, just thrown in a heap,” comments Diana Zhuk.
Do the dimensions of the furnace allow it to process the stated volumes of waste?
So, according to the specifications on the Flash R website, the UT300D recycler is capable of burning 150 kg of garbage in an hour. If we multiply 150 kg/h by 8 hours (working day), 20 working days and 12 months, we get a figure of 288 tons/year.
Now we count the number of contracts concluded from the beginning of the year until the end of June. The number indicated on the Prozzoro website is 167 tenders. Having analyzed 30 contracts out of 167, we get the volume of garbage that they agreed to burn: more than 368 tons. In total, in 88 tenders opened in total, the amount reached 413.6 tons. The rest of the tenders determined the amount of garbage as a service - one can assume that it was intended to hide significant volumes of waste.
According to information that became known to StopCor from law enforcement agencies, A-energo has already submitted tax reports on the work performed for six months. And they include 869,242 kg of garbage and 4,476 pieces of fluorescent lamps. And this is with the maximum allowable quantity for six months – 154,800 kg. The difference was about 709 tons!
So where does the other junk go? To the landfills? Such excess of the norm entails criminal liability under a number of articles.
Consequently, our editors forwarded these facts to law enforcement agencies so that they would also pay attention to A-Energo LLC. On the territory of the enterprise, journalists spotted a red MAN, which was presumably transporting collected waste for disposal.
“We have been monitoring the activity of the A-energo enterprise for more than 10 hours. What can we say? The activity is very insignificant both for such a huge enterprise, as they show themselves in the documents, and for an enterprise that wins million-dollar tenders. Literally one truck arrived and that was it. We also watched the smoke coming from the chimney, sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn’t. Therefore, the question arises whether they actually dispose of waste here, and do not take it somewhere to a landfill,” the investigator notes.
The third location visited by the StopCora team as part of this series is the Brovary district.
Here, in the village of Semipolki, we were interested in the company Vtormag LLC. By the way, it has been working since 2014. During the current year, since it received the license, it has won 28 contracts. Stopkorovites came to check how the tender contracts for recycling were being fulfilled. And what they saw surprised the team.
“The smoke that should have come from the chimney is simply spreading across the territory of the enterprise, which is behind the fence. As you can see in the video, it's hard not to notice. Is it really possible to burn waste in the open air? An hour later we already recorded real thick dark smoke, and this time it was really from the chimney. But we wouldn’t be us if we hadn’t peeked out of the corner of our eye to see what was happening on the territory. Before they could approach, they heard a familiar cackle. True, the chickens here do not wander from bag to bag with syringes and medicines, but have their own fence and their own house,” says Diana.
Subsequently, it became clear: the smoke was not even coming from the chimney, but simply from a container standing in the middle of the garbage. They will probably dispose of it there instead of the furnace. Although this is a gross violation. Does the relevant department really not know about this or not notice it?
In turn, we will continue to monitor this topic and are already preparing for release the next series of investigations, within the framework of which we will analyze what is happening in other areas. Ahead are the Zhytomyr region, Poltava region, Odessa region and again the capital region. To be continued.
Let us remind you that in February of this year, StopCor journalists discovered a landfill in a field near Kiev, which was clearly visible from the road. Previously, this same area had already come into the focus of our publication due to the possible theft of sand.
