How Azerbaijan is shaping a zero-waste future? Recycling for a "greener" tomorrow

Transition to a new model of global zero-waste production - "green" economy, as well as the formation of infrastructure for the fullest and safest possible utilisation of municipal solid waste (MSW) is recognised as one of the key objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period up to 2030.

Azerbaijan has made some progress in recent years in the environmental transformation of the industry and waste management, with this vector becoming mainstream amid preparations for the UN COP29 climate conference to be held in Baku. The successes and upcoming tasks for developing this sphere in Azerbaijan were discussed on June 27 in Baku, where the two-day international forum "Solidarity for a Green World: From Waste to Value for a Sustainable Future" kicked off.

"Currently, humanity produces an estimated 2.3 billion tons of municipal solid waste: rotting food, plastic bottles, chemical-containing electronics and more are thrown into landfills without regard for the safety of our planet. As garbage decomposes, it fills the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, causing a warming planet, and poisons water and soil, harming health, causing disease and death around the world," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement released on March 30, 2024, marking the UN International Day for a Waste-Free World.

The UN secretary general's statement emphasizes that the Zero Waste Advisory Board, established last year, brings together partners working on this critical issue and developing recommendations to make zero waste a reality. These challenges have been recognized as one of the most important, and today the United Nations is calling on governments around the world to support the building of circular economies that address resource depletion and management, invest in modern waste management programs that reuse, recycle, recover and prevent waste.

There is no alternative to this path, because, according to the World Bank's research, if the current rates of waste accumulation in the global municipal sector are maintained, by 2050 the annual volumes of MSW threaten to increase to 3.8 billion tons. If we add unprocessed waste from industrial and agricultural enterprises, the above data will increase significantly. At the same time, in case of implementation of waste-free production and formation of new enterprises oriented to the use of recyclable materials, according to estimates of the consulting company McKinsey, the world economy by 2030 will be able to earn an additional $4.5 trillion. Today, the most active non-waste "green" production and recycling of recyclable materials is developing in Sweden, where less than half of waste is incinerated for energy production, the rest is processed into recyclable materials, and only 0.8% of all waste in the country is sent to landfills for disposal.

Moreover, with the largest industrial capacity for MSW recycling, Sweden is now also the EU's largest importer of waste from neighboring countries. Similar trends of recycling MSW into energy and useful recyclable materials are very active in other European countries, as well as in the USA, Canada, Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore. At the same time, the practice of separate garbage collection is being implemented worldwide, and street cleaning is being mechanized, which helps to improve the ecological background in cities and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of public utilities.

In recent years, Azerbaijan has also tightened environmental legislation, implemented projects in the field of industrial processing of wastes, their safe disposal. The two-day international forum "Solidarity for a Green World: From Waste to Values for a Sustainable Future" initiated by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and “Təmiz Şəhər” (Clean City) OJSC, which started on June 27 in Baku, provided an excellent opportunity to assess the work done in this area.

"Azerbaijan has set a course for green development as one of the main goals in its national priorities, and this means transition to a green economy. For us, holding the two-day forum is extremely important in terms of studying international experience, exchange of ideas with about 300 participants," said Faig Mutallimov, Head of the Environmental Policy Department of the Ministry of Ecology, who emphasized that the Zero Waste - Baku initiative is planned to be adopted as a result of the forum. The Forum is designed to become a new platform for promotion of sustainable practices in the field of effective waste management, demonstration of innovations and discussion of new initiatives, and its work is attended by authorized representatives of the UN, various international organizations and specialized structures from a number of countries around the world.

"Azerbaijan's manufacturing enterprises bear great responsibility for the proper utilization of waste. The country has started implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Concept, which covers all stages of the production cycle - design, production, use and, finally, waste management, and in order to apply this mechanism, the legislative framework is being improved in the republic," said Mukhtar Babayev, Head of the Ministry of Ecology, President of COP29.

According to the Minister, active work is currently underway to create a modern infrastructure for the collection, sorting and recycling of garbage and waste utilization in the territories of the country liberated from occupation. To this end, a regional strategy has been developed, pilot projects are being implemented in the villages of Agdam district, and in the future it is planned to create nine landfills for the utilization of solid waste in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur. Mukhtar Babayev reminded that due to large-scale destruction of buildings and structures during the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands, a large amount of construction waste and other types of waste was formed in these territories: "It is important for us to manage these wastes in a modern way and reuse them as raw materials".

The achievements of Azerbaijan on construction waste management in the Karabakh region were highly appreciated by global structures: Thus, UN Deputy Secretary General and Executive Director of the Environment Program Inger Andersen, a participant of the forum, believes that Azerbaijan demonstrates leadership in fighting construction waste, applying innovative methods in the work of recycling waste during the demolition of buildings in the conflict-affected territories, while actively cooperating with the private sector.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan participates in the European Union's international program "Green Cities" (GCAP), which covers 56 cities around the world and is planned to provide a total of 5 billion euros for environmental reforms. Thus, two years ago, the second most populous Azerbaijani city, Ganja, joined the EU action plan: two loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) were used to implement projects on MSW utilization and automation of Ganja's street lighting systems. It is not excluded that in time GCAP components can be implemented in other cities of the republic, including in the Karabakh region.

These initiatives are by no means the only green initiatives in Azerbaijan. The most large-scale project in this area is being implemented in the Balakhani Industrial Park, the core of which is the Baku Solid Waste Utilization Plant commissioned in 2012: the plant processes over 500,000 tonnes of solid waste per year, generating over 200 million kWh of electricity, providing an average of 100,000 families with electricity throughout the year.

Since 2017, 53 million manats ($31.2 million) have been invested in the "Balakhani Industrial Park, which is a part of “Təmiz Şəhər” (Clean City) OJSC, Currently, 25 residents have been registered in the Park, producing products worth 229 million manats ($134.1 million)," Etibar Abbasov, head of Təmiz Şəhər OJSC, said during the forum.

“Təmiz Şəhər” contributes to the improvement of the ecological situation in the capital. More than 800,000 tonnes of waste are annually delivered to the OJSC’s landfill for disposal.

According to Abbasov, the industrial park plays a special role in expanding the production of competitive industrial products from waste using modern technologies, with 10 per cent of the products being exported. Among other things, this industrial park has organised processing of used motor and vegetable oils into diesel fuel, several enterprises are engaged in recycling waste paper and polymer waste, production of furniture and building materials from wood and industrial waste, and from food waste - raw materials for fodder and compost, etc. has been established.

In recent years, "green" enterprises for MSW disposal and its processing into recyclable materials have been localized in other industrial zones and quarters of the country. Among them, residents of the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park (SCIP) set up recycling of lead-acid batteries, and a factory for the production of organic fertilizers by processing agricultural waste was put into operation in the Hajigabul Industrial Park.

With the support of the IDEA public association and a number of international organizations, the country has organized the collection and recycling of alkaline batteries, polymer accumulators, and used electronics. The largest environmental protection project was implemented on the initiative of AzerGold CJSC, which mines gold and copper ore and processes it into concentrates: the CJSC has established a high-tech and safe process of utilization of toxic mercury, which is exported to Singapore, Papua New Guinea and so on. In order to protect the environment, Azerbaijan is also forming an infrastructure for utilization of worn-out vehicles.

In the future, these "green" trends will be supplemented with new options: as Ecology Minister Mukhtar Babayev noted during the forum, modern methods and technologies of collection, sorting, transportation and neutralization of medical waste, which poses a serious threat to the environment and human health, are in demand in Azerbaijan.