Hazardous waste recycling plant to be built in northern Kazakhstan

A hazardous waste recycling plant worth $100 million will be built in Pavlodar in Kazakhstan’s north, Tengrinews reports citing the Chief Expert of the Waste Management Department of Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry Aidar Makhmetov.

The new plant will be the first of its kind in Kazakhstan. It will be capable of recycling the hazardous wastes both produced now and stored by industrial enterprises.

The city’s administration, department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Protection and an Italian company working in this field signed a memorandum to create the waste management system. “The memorandum worth $40 million was signed. The project will be implemented in three stages: each will take five years including the construction of a waste recycling plant,” Mayor of Pavlodar Kanat Bozumbayev is quoted as saying by 24.kz.

“Today Kazakhstan has accumulated very large amounts of waste including persistent organic pollutants and industrial waste. In Pavlodar, particularly, huge amounts of hazardous waste have amassed near the city, in open spaces. They are ownerless and accessible to people. The waste has been accumulating over the years and has never been recycled. The new plant will dispose of all the industrial wastes including oil, oil sludge and contaminated soil,” Aidar Makhmetov said at Yertis Invest-2014 International Forum.

A total of 124 projects were presented at Yertis Invest-2014 International Forum and agreements amounting to 39 billion tenge (around $216 million) were signed.

The funding of the waste recycling project will come from the state budget and the World Bank. $10 million have already been allocated. “The new plant will be constructed in Pavlodar Special Economic Zone. The new plant worth $100 million will allow disposing of hazardous waste produced not only in Pavlodar, but also in the entire East Kazakhstan Oblast, Karaganda Oblast and West Kazakhstan,” Aidar Makhmetov said.

Writing by Assel Satubaldina, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina