The new city landfill of Bishkek with a waste sorting plant will open in 2017.
The city landfill on the outskirts of Bishkek, which has been operating since the 1970s, has been dubbed an "ecological bomb." The operational period of the facility expired 25 years ago, but to this day, waste from all over Bishkek is brought here. Today, the area of the landfill is about 85 hectares, and the layer of garbage exceeds 10 meters.
- The fact that the city sanitary landfill poses an ecological threat has been discussed for the first year, but for a long time, there were no shifts, - noted the director of the municipal enterprise Alybek Apasov. - The problem is that all the investors who were ready to invest in the construction of a new landfill and waste processing plant pursued business interests. That is, they could reuse the raw materials and profit from it. However, when it came to the reclamation of the old landfill, investors refused. We are left with only a few financial institutions that could fund these activities.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) came to the aid of the city authorities, approving a project to improve the solid waste management system in Bishkek and allocating 22 million euros for its implementation. Part of the funds will be directed towards the technical equipment of the municipal enterprise "Tazalyk," and part will address the waste disposal problem, including the reclamation of the landfill.
- We are currently preparing the technical assignment for the construction of the new landfill, - Apasov reported. - Construction work will begin in the summer of next year and will last up to 12 months. As soon as the cells for waste storage are technically ready, we will redirect the generated waste to the new sanitary landfill and begin the reclamation process of the old one. According to the project, the reclamation will take 8 months.
The director of the Bishkek sanitary landfill explained the reclamation process: waste will be placed in pits with waterproofing to prevent leachate (toxic liquid formed during decomposition) from entering the soil. Pipes will be laid for the drainage of leachate and landfill gas. At the new landfill, reclamation will mean layer-by-layer compaction of waste and clay, and waste sorting will also be carried out for further processing.
- A waste sorting plant will be located at the landfill. Why not a waste processing plant? The practice of neighboring Kazakhstan has shown that this is unprofitable: there are two modern plants there that have received huge investments, and to this day both are idle. The reason is that the raw materials do not reach the plant. Therefore, we decided that a waste sorting plant would be sufficient for us. Moreover, there are enough consumers of secondary raw materials in the republic: rubber, glass, plastic, and much more are processed, - noted Alybek Apasov.
Reference IA:
Landfill reclamation is a set of works aimed at restoring the productivity of disturbed lands. It is carried out in two stages: technical and biological. In the technical stage, technological and construction activities are developed, and systems for collecting, purifying, and disposing of biogas and leachate are constructed. In the biological stage, soil preparation and planting of green vegetation are carried out.
