WE'RE TALKIN' TRASH: MONGOLIA TACKLES A MOUNTING SOLID

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ULAANBAATAR 000599 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM D.CITRON; OES/ENV-H. FINMAN EAP - INTERNATIONAL FOR M. ENGLE, M. BAILEY STATE PASS TO AID/ANE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SENV PGOV SOCI EAID BTIO MG SUBJECT: WE'RE TALKIN' TRASH: MONGOLIA TACKLES A MOUNTING SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL PROBLEM. Ref: 06 Ulaanbaatar 105 ¶1. SUMMARY. As Mongolia evolves into a consumerist, disposable society, its cities are increasingly becoming overrun by mounting piles of trash and other solid waste. Garbage sometimes goes uncollected for months, especially in impoverished ger (yurt) districts, and Ulaanbaatar's single landfill is nearly full. For over a decade, the waste collection and disposal system was neglected as the country staggered toward a market-based economy follow the collapse of the Communist system. Since 2000, the Government of Mongolia (GOM) has actively sought to engage foreign donors to help find a solution. In 2004 Japan's International Cooperation Agency (JICA) stepped in with a successful waste management improvement plan that has included upgrading Ulaanbaatar's landfill, providing funding for new sanitation trucks, developing collection plans and researching the location for a new landfill. Only 3.7% of the city's waste is recycled (septel),but city officials hope to see the figure rise to 10% by 2010. The GOM also hopes to install an incinerator and recycling plant, and hopes to boost capacity by sending more students overseas to study waste management, a field of study not offered by Mongolian universities. END SUMMARY Average Mongolian Produces 1kg of Trash Daily -------------- ¶2. According to the Ministry of Environment (MOE),Ulaanbaatar produces on average 250,000 metric tons of trash annually; 250 tons per day in summer and 560 tons per day in winter. (Note: The seasonal increase is due almost entirely to ash waste from coal burning stoves, although a portion of the city's population also decamps to the countryside during the summer months.) Ger districts, home to more than half of the capital's population, account for 48% of Ulaanbaatar's total annual waste output. Apartment complexes produce 32%; offices, shopping centers and restaurants 17%; and loose waste (everything else) 3%. Each urban dweller produces approximately 0.5 to 1 kg of waste everyday. Only 62% of all this waste makes it to a disposal site or is recycled (58% and 4%, respectively). The remaining 38% is shunted off to the 9 or 10 illegal dumping sites that have sprung up around the city or are simply tossed into streets or ravines. ¶3. About 90% of the waste that does find its way to a legally recognized landfill is carted off to Ulaanbaatar's nearly full Ulaanchuluut open-pit landfill, located just 17 kilometers northwest of the city's center. The landfill is nearly encircled by the expanding Bayankhoshuu ger district. Some 50 area families now make their living as garbage pickers at the landfill. Booming Economy Means More Waste -------------- ¶4. Over the past decade, Mongolia's thriving economy has spawned a consumer lifestyle that has amplified the amount of waste it produces, particularly in Ulaanbaatar, a city of nearly 1 million people (about 40% of Mongolia's population). Moreover, the country's booming construction sector and expanding medical services have generated medical, hazardous and industrial waste that can no longer be disposed of by traditional means. Waste from Ger Districts Piles Up and Seeps In -------------- -- ¶4. ¶5. Growing migration to ger areas around major cities has added to the garbage mix. Ger districts suffer from inadequate sanitation services because they lack even basic infrastructure and are hard to reach. Residents simply dump trash into the streets or alleyways where it collects in corners, holes or ravines, or is blown down into the city center. The run-off from garbage seeps into the ground, threatening local wells, or uncollected garbage provides fuel for fire that regularly sweep through the wood and felt tent communities, killing scores of residents at a time. Coal ash waste from ger districts has also become a serious issue. On average, Ulaanbaatar's 150,000 gers burn 5 to 7 metric tons of ULAANBAATA 00000599 002 OF 004 coal annually (about 40 to 50 lbs per day),though ger residents also burn tires, wood, cardboard boxes, and anything else to keep warm. The resulting ash is piled outside gers or tossed into the street. Nestled in a bowl between mountains, the smoke blankets the city in a thick fog, hanging there for hours during still winter days. (Note: The Embassy abuts a ger district that is home to 130,000 people, and some mornings visibility is barely 50 meters.)morn. While the city's coal-powered energy plants dispose of the non-airborne ash by turning it into concrete, no such plan has been introduced for ger ash waste. Recently, Mongolia's Nuclear Energy Commission told Econoff that there are considerable levels of uranium embedded in much of Mongolia's coal, heightening concerns about the health risks of coal burning and proper ash disposal. According to city sanitation authorities, during cold periods, over 60% of solid waste from ger districts is ash. (Note: In early 2006, UB's Mayor claimed the burning of 4.7 million metric tons (MT) of brown coal for heating and electricity and 750,000 MT of petroleum for transportation spews some 260,000 MT of pollutants into UB's atmosphere, much of it at human-breathing level.) Waste Collection Woes Date to Early 1990s -------------- ¶6. Mongolia's current garbage predicament can be traced back to the early 1990s when state control over waste management collapsed, along with Mongolia's centrally planned economy. As part of free market reforms and the privatization of public services, the GOM introduced a fee-based waste collection system. Licenses were issued to six (later nine) garbage collecting companies, only one of which was in private hands, to haul away trash in designated sub-districts within the city. But the companies were understaffed, under-resourced and overwhelmed. Sky-rocketing inflation and increasing poverty left few residents with the wherewithal to pay the collection fees. ¶7. Eventually, a 100% collection rate during the socialist era gave way to a slapdash (and some say corrupt) waste collection system that led to garbage anarchy. Apartment dwellers tossed trash from their windows, occasionally injuring passersby. Courtyards around Ulaanbaatar became impromptu garbage dumps. Even apartments fortunate enough to have garbage chutes saw a rise in fires, pest populations and unsanitary conditions as trash remained uncollected for months at a time. Illegal open dump sites that sprang up around the city were also a source of fires and infestations. GOM Moves to Improve Waste Management -------------- ¶8. By the year 2000, the garbage crisis had reached critical proportions. Parliament passed a flurry of laws to regulate industrial and domestic waste, as well as hazardous and medical waste, but lacked sufficient capacity to either enforce the laws or develop and implement effective waste management and reduction programs on their own. Frustrated, the GOM looked to international donors for assistance. ¶9. The Australian Government was the first to step to the plate with a donation of US$22.7 million for a services implementation project, much of which focused on waste management. Funds went to supply solid waste collection units and "ancillaries and accessories." JICA's Master Plan for Waste Management in UB -------------- ¶10. Then, in 2004, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) arrived with an ambitious project to entirely overhaul waste management practices. Japan, by far Mongolia's largest aid donor, had succeeded with such waste management projects in other Asian countries. JICA first worked to upgrade and fortify the Ulaanchuluut disposal site. They built an on-site paved road, installed an enclosing bank, a storm water drain, gas removal facilities, a leachate treatment pond, and a control house with weigh station. They also erected a heated garage for sanitation trucks and equipment and supplied a high-rise movable perimeter breeze-fence, to catch refuse that is propelled by strong winds. Finally, JICA developed a thorough waste disposal plan for the site that included re-shaping and slope trimming of the existing landfill ULAANBAATA 00000599 003 OF 004 as well as soil covering. ¶11. JICA also surveyed sites for a new landfill to replace Ulaanchuluut, which will reach full capacity by December 2008. They settled on an area called Ikh Narangiin Enger, just one kilometer behind the Ulaanchuluut landfill. The new site's sophistication will hopefully mean reduced health risks to the urban population. It will operate until 2020. Officials from the City Maintenance and Public Utilities Agency admitted that there is not yet any plan in place to deal with waste after that year. ¶12. JICA then strengthened the capacity of the Solid Waste Management Department through the funding of staffing increases, and the revision of the fee system for solid waste collection. Over the next two years, JICA will help fund the purchase of 50 new sanitation trucks to add to Ulaanbaatar's aging, mostly Russian-made fleet of 120, thereby allowing the city to expand collection efforts around the city. A Patchwork of Collection Systems -------------- ¶13. JICA also helped develop a patchwork of collection systems to deal with the unique challenges presented by UB's multifaceted urban landscape. One such system, the "Bell Collection System," in which residents in apartments carry their trash to collection trucks three times per week, is by far the most successful. The arrival of the truck is sometimes signaled by a horn or bell; hence the name. But many of the trucks donated through the JICA program lure residents with the sounds of a famous Japanese lullaby. ¶14. Unfortunately, a lack of trucks and resources prohibits the bell system from being implemented city-wide and many apartment blocks still rely on traditional collection systems such as dust chutes and communal container collection systems. Some areas are not serviced at all by sanitation trucks and have reverted to disposing of trash in illegal dumps or apartment courtyards and vacant lots. ¶15. The dust chute collection system remains problematic because trucks can only haul away trash from these sites once a month. Few landlords look after the chutes, which often clog and sometime burn. It is also difficult for trucks to collect the garbage from the interiors of apartment trash rooms. ¶16. The communal container collection system, where residents carry trash to a neighborhood waste container, is hindered by trash bins that damage easily. Furthermore, the garbage cannot be collected in winter because it freezes, is set on fire to provide warmth for the homeless or is otherwise scattered by waste-pickers. City sanitation trucks visit residential areas once a month. City officials are working to increase their fleet of sanitation trucks in order to collect garbage more frequently. Increasing Sanitation Service to Ger Areas -------------- ¶17. UB has beefed up service to ger areas with more frequent, regular sanitation visits. A public awareness campaign calling on ger district residents to cover their waste has cut down on windswept refuse, and calls for communal help with loading garbage into sanitation trucks has produced excellent results. Still, a scarcity of sanitation trucks makes regular visits to all ger areas difficult. Recycling Efforts -------------- ¶18. The JICA/UB master plan for waste management envisions up to 10% of the city's trash being recycled annually with the help of education drive and the instillation of 134 recycling collection points throughout the city. (Note: Recylcing to be covered in septel.) Currently only about 3.75% of all waste produced in Ulaanbaatar is recycled, thanks mostly to the efforts of a few hundred waste-pickers who scour the landfill or inner city trash containers. JICA's project harnessed the work of waste-pickers by developing plans to introduce a recycling facility with a separation ULAANBAATA 00000599 004 OF 004 site that will allow waste pickers to engage in their activities safely. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not clear, that facility was never built. The Ministry of Nature and Environment has established a working group to develop a draft law which imposes penalties on importers of non-recyclable packages and materials. The draft law is expected to be submitted to Parliament next year. ¶19. In addition to JICA's efforts, the GOM has developed its own set of plans. It recently established a special site for the disposal of medical and hazardous waste in the central aimag (province) of Tov, and is developing a pilot program further afield, in Khovd and Hovsgol aimags, that would create a template for each aimag to establish its own landfill. Incinerator, Recycling Plant and Capacity Building -------------- -------------- ¶20. Despite the tremendous progress made by JICA in strengthening Mongolia's waste management system, more work needs to be done. The GOM has said it is still procuring a medium size incinerator, having rejected several offers from European companies because they were either economically unviable or comprised of faulty (or even dangerous) technology that the companies could not unload elsewhere. The GOM would also like to build a small-scale recycling factory. Finally, there is a critical need to upgrade human capacity in the field of waste management. Right now only two to three students head off to Japan each year to receive training in waste management. At home, there is no real curriculum available, only a few courses offered at the technical university. Goldbeck